Finding the Light
by Definitely Not Pusillanimous
Summary: When Rachel is sucked into the darkness, who is her light? Does she need to help her too? Pezberry friendship and eventual Faberry. Rated T for depression, cutting and abuse
1. Revelations

**Glee story, Faberry pairing, Pezberry friendship**

**A/N Okay this is extremely OOC and probably AU**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, sadly... *cries* lol**

She sat on the floor with her back against the toilet stall wall, blood seeping through the sleeves of her sweater, tear tracks disappearing when fresh tears slide down her face next to a bloody razor lying abandoned on the floor.

Suddenly the toilet door opens and the girl is shocked out of her trance, quickly sitting up and wiping the blood off the floor with toilet paper. She's shocked when she hears a tentative knock on the door of her stall.

"Rachel? Are you in there?" Santana calls softly, the pair recently having become friends. A sniffle coming from Rachel alerts Santana that she's in there.

"Rach, please open the door. I just want to make sure you're okay..." The Latina pleads.

The stall door clicks open so quietly that if Santana wasn't listening for it she would have missed it. The sight Santana saw when she opened the door was heartbreaking; a tiny Rachel Berry sitting in the corner of a toilet stall with bleeding arms. She quickly locked the main toilet door to make sure no one else would see the diva like this.

Santana was holding back tears as she helped Rachel up and over to the sink, sitting her on the counter. She got a piece of toilet paper, ran it under some water, and started cleaning up the blood from Rachel's arms.

After Santana put some disinfectant and bandaged the diva's arms she gave each bandage a small kiss; telling Rachel it was to help them heal faster.

"Rach, can I leave you here while I run and get you some new clothes?"

A small nod and a faint "yes" was the reply.

"Okay sweetie, I'll be back in a few minutes."

True to her word Santana was back within five minutes with her Cheerio's hoodie and running pants, quickly helping Rachel change into them.

Santana says jokingly, trying to lighten the mood, "See, I knew if we just got you out of those clothes you would be one extremely hot chica. I think you might even rival me in beauty!" There was a small pause before she chuckled and said "Nah, you know I think you're beautiful inside and out no matter what you wear, don't ya Diva?" She says lightly bumping her shoulder against Rachel's.

After the pair formed their friendship they quickly grew to become best friends. They learnt that they had loads in common and Santana was helping Rachel through her depression and cutting, having been there herself at one stage.

Just as Santana is starting to think about how their unlikely friendship started she heard Rachel whisper "Can you please take me home now?"

"Of course Diva, come on. Do you need my help to get to the car or are you right to walk?"

"I think I'm okay"

The quiet was starting to get to Santana because she's so used to Rachel's rambling, although the other girl always is quiet after one of her cutting episodes.

The drive to Rachel's house was silent and the girls were quiet even when they got into the house. As soon as they were inside Rachel went and sat on the couch and Santana grabbed them some snacks and an extra soda for Rachel because she thought the girl would need more sugar.

When she got into the lounge-room she found Rachel lying on the couch with Funny Girl on the T.V. Santana placed the snacks on the coffee table and lifted the diva's head before plopping herself down on the seat and gently placing Rachel's head in her lap.

A couple of hours, a tonne of junk food and one movie later saw both girls sprawled out on the couch (Rachel completely lying on top of Santana) asleep. This is the sight Leroy and Hiram Berry found when they arrived home from work.

"Aww aren't they just the cutest? I wish they'd been friends since kindergarten, maybe then Rach wouldn't have been tormented so much..." Hiram said quietly, his gentle smile promptly turning into a frown.

An hour later the Berry men came in to wake the girls up because dinner was ready.

"Rach, it's time for dinner sweetie. You need to wake up." Leroy whispered, lightly shaking her shoulder.

Rachel woke up with a groan and silently swore to herself that next time she's going to take pain killers before going to sleep because her arms are aching like never before. Swiftly waking Santana, the tiny brunette gets up and takes some pain medication before heading in to dinner with her fathers'.

"Okay, I'll be going now. See you tomorrow Diva, Berry men." Santana said, about to walk out the door.

"Wait Santana, when we saw you were asleep we called your parents to ask if it was okay for you to stay for dinner and maybe sleep over. I hope that's okay...?" Leroy informed her.

"Oh, yeah, that's awesome! Thanks, if it's okay with Rach I'd love to stay over tonight."

"Of course I want you stay over San, you know I love having you over!"

Dinner went smoothly and the girls went to Rachel's room as soon as they finished washing the dishes.

"How are your arms feeling Rach? Do you need anything? I don't want you to accidentally open any of the cuts..."

"I'm fine San. I already took some pain meds and you already disinfected and bandaged _and _put your extra special healing kiss on each of them, so I should heal perfectly." Rachel teased.

"Ha. Ha. You are so funny." The Latina said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

The two broke out in a fit of giggles that were short lived when Santana remembered what she meant to ask Rachel since she found her in the school toilets.

"Rach, what happened today to make you cut again? I thought we were making progress..."

All signs of laughter were erased as soon as the question passed her lips. The room was silent and tense for a second before tears swelled in Rachel's eyes and a small sob escaped her lips. Santana immediately pulled Rachel into a comforting hug, leaving a small kiss in her hair.

"Diva, sweetie, you know you're like my sister and you can tell me anything and it wouldn't change my opinion of you or how much I love you."

After a few minutes of Santana comforting Rachel and trying to stop her tears, the tiny brunette sniffled and looked up at Santana with big eyes.

"San... I'm in love with Quinn..." She ended with a dry sob, her tears starting up again with the belief the other brunette was going to shun her for being a lesbian.

Pulling her back into an embrace, Santana couldn't help the tears that sprang to her eyes at seeing Rachel so distressed. Santana realised that they had more in common then she thought.

"Rach, Rach. It's okay Diva, really. I know how you feel. I'm surprised you haven't noticed my crush on Alice..."

At this Rachel looks up so fast Santana was worried she might have given herself whiplash, causing the Latina to giggle a little.

"Are you serious?"

Openly laughing, Santana nodded. Instantaneously Rachel was in Santana's lap with her arms and legs around the Latina, squealing with happiness. Santana's chuckles were muffled because Rachel's hair was in her face. Wrapping her arms around the smaller girl Santana moves her head so she can breathe before yawning.

"Oh, I didn't realise how late it is! We need to get an adequate amount of sleep otherwise we won't be able to concentrate and then our education will be ruined and that will destroy my dreams of being on broadway!"

"Wow Diva, you must be really excited about this; you've reverted back to rambling again." Santana said with a chuckle, "Don't worry, it's endearing."

The small girl pouted and grabbed her sleep shorts and tank top before walking into her ensuite to change for bed, but not before giving Santana a look telling her that she had better be changed into her bed clothes before she gets back.

With that Santana pulls out an oversized t-shirt sleep shorts from Rachel's drawers and dresses as quickly as she can.


	2. Saving Quinn

**A/N Wow guys, I can't believe I've gotten such a positive response to this story! I'm proud of myself too; two chapters within two days :D Also, Quinn's pregnancy still happened and she's dating Finn at the moment.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee :'(**

Yesterday's revelations made the pair closer than ever, causing people to look at them strangely like they were trying to figure out if the pair had started dating or if they are still just best friends. Santana and Rachel had discussed their plan for her to woo Quinn and today was the day they were going to get everything they need.

First step is getting her attention. The girls decided that the best way to do this is to change what she wears to school; instead of argyle and sweaters, she would wear black skinny jeans, dark coloured hoodies (Purple, red, black etc) with her black converse. It would help Rachel express how dark her mind-set is at the moment and also get her attention the attention she needs from Quinn.

Second step is getting closer to her after she has captured her attention. As Santana and Quinn are friends, that shouldn't be too hard, they just have to set up some group outings with Quinn and Alice. When they are out as the group Santana would take Alice off to look at something so Quinn and Rachel are left alone, leaving them to bond.

Then they have to become friends, so Quinn develops an emotional attachment to the small brunette. Once that happened Rachel would sing a song to her in Glee, revealing her true feelings for the blonde. After that they decided they would have to wing it because everything depends on Quinn's reaction to the revelation.

That afternoon the two girls went to the mall and bought all the clothes they would need, thankfully Rachel actually did like the new style they picked out for her.

The outfit they decided on for the first day was a black hoodie with a gothic fairy on the front, black skinny jeans and her black converse. Make-up and hair wise she would have pretty heavy eye-liner, otherwise light, natural looking make-up, her hair down, falling in natural chocolate brown curls. She wouldn't have any accessories except for her new black shoulder bag.

The diva looked so different to how she normally did; she stood out in the crowd, not just because she was wearing such a dark outfit, but because of the vulnerable power she radiated. Not many people are able to master that like she has, unknowingly.

"Wow." Santana's jaw dropped when she first saw the smaller girl the next morning. "You look... _amazing!"_

"Thank you, do you think Quinn will think so?" She asked with a shy smile and hopeful brown eyes that could melt anyone's heart.

"She would have to be blind not to see how beautiful you are, especially when you look like this! I mean, damn! I think we've found your style Diva!"

With that, the two grinning brunettes walked to their first class that they had together with Quinn.

By the end of the day Rachel was extremely happy with the way the plan was going. Quinn's jaw was almost on the floor when she saw the tiny diva and was shocked into speechlessness for a few moments.

As the brunettes were walking away from their last class they spotted Finn and Quinn talking but it looked like the tall boy was getting angry so they stayed where the couple couldn't see them but they could make sure everything was okay.

When Finn began yelling at her the girls started to get worried and edged forward a few inches. As soon as they saw him grab her arm tightly they rushed towards the couple. Seeing tears in Quinn's eyes told them that he was hurting her more than she would admit.

"GET OFF OF HER YOU OVERGROWN MAN-CHILD!" Were Santana's first words to the boy, causing him to realise that they had witnessed everything that had happened so far.

While Santana was screaming and cursing in Spanish at Finn, Rachel got in one good shove to get him away from _her _Quinn.

After she shoved the boy, Rachel quickly ushered Quinn into the nearest girls' bathroom, shooting off a text to Santana telling her where they were on the way. The blonde had tears streaming down her face by the time they got to the bathroom so Rachel did the first thing she could think of; she hugged her.

At first Quinn stiffened in her arms but then she relaxed and fell into Rachel's warm embrace. After the blonde's tears had dried Rachel dampened some toilet paper and wiped her cheeks free of tears, doing almost exactly what Santana had done for her only a couple of days prior.

No one had noticed that over the past few months the blonde had grown quiet, much like Rachel had, but due to a much different reason. No one noticed the bruises that she covered with make-up, not even Rachel. No one noticed the small flinch she did if someone moved too quickly beside her. No one noticed how good an actress Quinn could be.

Not until Rachel found the bruise on her cheek that she had so cleverly hidden with make-up. Not until Rachel saw the crack in the mask that she put up every day.

When Quinn realised why the small brunette had a horrified look on her face, she went to run but just as she was about to dart out the door Santana walked in, blocking her path. It looked like the Latina had calmed down since they last saw her but as soon as she saw the bruise on the blonde's face she was enraged.

In her panic, Quinn shut down, collapsing on the toilet floor causing the brunettes to calm down their anger a little bit so as not to scare her. Picking her up off the floor, Santana carried Quinn out to her car telling Rachel to drive to her place because her parents wouldn't be home for hours at least.

As they arrived at the Lopez residence Quinn was still unconscious so Santana carried her inside and laid the blonde on her bed so the girl could rest.

Rachel arrived about two minutes after the other girls and ran through the door trying to find the unconscious blonde. The girl was almost bursting with questions to find out who had hurt the girl she loves.

Leaving Quinn to sleep, Santana and Rachel sit downstairs in the lounge-room in silence, not knowing what to say.

After a minute the Latina says "When I find out who hurt her I'm going to kill them." Rachel agreed wholeheartedly.

The silence was almost unbearable as the girls waited for Quinn to wake up so they could find out who hurt her like this.

Ten minutes later nothing had changed so Rachel decided that she would sit upstairs with Quinn so she would know when the girl wakes up. When the brunette walks into Santana's room she sees the blonde sitting on the curled into a ball sobbing quietly.

She immediately ran into the room and sat on the bed next to Quinn, gently wrapping her arms around her.

"No one was supposed to find out. He's going to kill me..." Quinn sobbed into her hands.

Once the girl had calmed down slightly Rachel went downstairs and told Santana that Quinn's awake.

Time to find out who's hurting her.

"Hey Q, how are you feeling?" Santana asks as soon as she's in the door.

Quinn shrugged and whispered hoarsely, "I need to get home."

"No way, not until you tell us who's hurting you. For all we know you could be going home to someone that beats you. So, not gonna happen Q." Santana replies.

"Please Quinn, we just want to keep you safe. I can't stand seeing you like this. You're broken; whoever is hurting you broke your spirit. It's heartbreaking." Rachel adds.

Quinn breaks the silence that descended after Rachel's pleading, "It was Finn. Ever since I lied to him about being the father of the baby he's hated me. He told me he loved me and we got back together and after about a week he started hurting me. At first he would just grab my arms or wrist a bit too tightly and he would always apologise when he saw the bruise but then it progressed. He started hitting me about a month after we got back together. He only does it when no one is around. Today was an accident; he didn't mean for anyone to be around, he thought everyone had gone home. He was angry at me because I was late meeting him at his locker. I was only late because I had been slushied, I tried to explain that to him but he wouldn't listen. He grabbed my arm and was about to hit me when you rushed in... It's my fault; I should have gone to his locker first to tell him what had happened. It's my fault he started hitting me anyway. If I hadn't cheated on him and then lied to him about who the father of Beth was he wouldn't have started. It's my fault. You don't need to worry. I deserve it..." Quinn reveals.

Santana and Rachel were sitting in shocked silence; they didn't believe the boy could do something like that. They thought today had been accident. They couldn't believe Quinn actually believed that it's her fault and that she deserves to be treated this way.

"Quinn, no one deserves to be treated this way. Especially not you! And it is most certainly not your fault that Finn is abusive! Santana and I aren't going to let him hurt you anymore. We're going to take you to the police station so you can report this, that way he might not want to do it to the next girl he is in a relationship with. We will help you break up with him so he is less likely to hurt you and you can stay with me at my house so he won't know where you're staying-" Rachel starts rambling before Santana stops her.

"Diva, stop, you're scaring her. Look at her, she looks like she's going to throw up. Q, are you okay? Do you need me to take you to the bathroom?"

Rachel looked at Quinn and noticed that her normally pale complexion had turned a sickly pasty white. The blonde nodded and Santana led her to the bathroom, waiting outside for her.

"We can't let her go home tonight, he'll be pissed because we stepped in before he could hit her. He'll go to her house tonight to find her. " Santana says quietly to Rachel.

"Are your parents going to be home tonight San?"

"Nope, I just got a message from them saying that they're staying in Chicago for the weekend. God, am I glad it's Friday..."

"Okay good, that means I can message my Dads and we can all stay here for the weekend to keep Quinn safe."

Santana walks over to Quinn's stuff and picks up her phone, messaging the blonde's Mom saying that she'll be staying at Santana's house for a girl's weekend.


	3. Sly Santana

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

When Quinn walked out of the bathroom and saw her phone in Santana's hand she freaked out.

"What are you doing with my phone?" She screeched.

"Relax, I was just sending a message to your Mom saying that you would be spending the weekend with us for a girl's weekend." Santana reassured.

The blonde huffed and snatched her phone off of the Latina before sitting on the bed. Rachel could see that the girl was annoyed with them so she sat next to her and tried to put an arm around her, but just as her arm wrapped around the blonde, Quinn roughly pushed it away.

Tears welled up in the small brunette's eyes as a small dark patch showed up on her hoodie sleeve, causing her to run out of the room, Santana right behind her, leaving a shocked Quinn behind.

In the bathroom, Rachel had her sleeves pulled up and Santana was disinfecting the cuts, making sure to take extra special care of the one she just re-split. After bandaging the diva's arms, they decided that it would probably be best if they washed the hoodie now so it didn't get blood stains on it. Leaving her in a black _Wicked_ t-shirt, and her arms exposed for Quinn to see.

After Quinn told the brunettes about Finn's abuse, Rachel thought it would only be fair to tell her about her own issues. That way the girl would know that she's not alone and they could help each other through it, even though they have different problems.

Santana was unsure about Rachel's idea but decided to go along with it anyway. If anything went wrong and the smaller brunette got hurt she would just help pick up the pieces and sort everything out.

As soon as Rachel walked back into the room Quinn's eyes snapped to her exposed arms. When the blonde girl registered the bandages around them, her stunned eyes darted between Rachel and Santana.

"What happened?" She asked, eyes huge.

After taking a deep breath Rachel replied, "About six months ago I started cutting. I'm getting better with Santana's help, but I still relapse sometimes. Two days ago was one of those times... Santana always knows how to get me back into the right mindset. I thought since you told us about Finn and we saw your bruises that, to make us more even, I would show you my scars..." With that the tiny diva unwrapped her arms and revealed what looked like hundreds of thin criss-cross scars on her fore-arms and the few new ones.

"Is that why you were so distant with everyone until you and S became friends?"

"Yes, she noticed that there was something wrong and decided to befriend me so she could help me. And now we're like sisters we're so close." Rachel said, shooting a grin at the Latina.

Quinn nodded and looked deep in thought for a few moments before asking, "Can I ask why you 'relapsed' the other day?"

Rachel shook her head and replied "Nothing major, I'm okay now."

After the girls spent the better part of an hour discussing how they were going to keep Quinn away from Finn and how she could break up with him without him hurting her they decided that anything they did would have to be in a public place. That way, if anything went wrong he couldn't hurt her because people would see him and she could get away easier if it was crowded.

There was a big school football game the next night, meaning Santana and Quinn will have to be there cheering and Rachel is going to watch so she'll be there for the blonde when she breaks it off with Finn.

The plan was for Quinn and Santana to approach the tall boy while everyone was still around and dump him as quickly as possible. As soon as she's said it they would try to blend in with the crowd so he couldn't find her, before heading back to Santana's house.

Rachel was disappointed that she didn't get to woo Quinn the way she wanted to. Now that they're helping her she would have to change the plan they had to suit the situation, but of course that would have to wait until the girl was safe again.

After dinner the girls put on a movie. After a great debate between them on what they should watch they finally agreed on _Chicago_ because it was a musical for Rachel, and it was about female murderers, almost all of which had killed their male partners after they'd done something wrong; so Quinn and Santana were happy to watch it.

Once that was finished they decided to watch a scary movie (well, Santana chose it; Quinn and Rachel were just too embarrassed to tell her they don't like scary movies). When the movie got to its main menu the other girls realised the Latina had chosen _The Exorcist, _Rachel groaned internally.

Within the first hour Quinn and Rachel were practically clinging to each other they were so scared, much to Santana's amusement. By the time the movie was over the tiny diva was in the blonde's lap with her face buried in the crook of her neck while Quinn had her face covered in Rachel's hair.

Santana mentally hi-fived herself and thought with a chuckle, _'I knew that'd work...'_

A few minutes later the two entwined girls realised the movie was over, leaving them both blushing as they attempted to untangle themselves.

Santana laughed heartily at the embarrassed look on their faces and walked out of the room to grab a few sodas for them, leaving the two girls to sit in an awkward silence until she got back.

Rachel and Quinn didn't realise that they were sitting as close to each other as they possibly could unless one of them was sitting on the other's lap.

By this time it was around eleven thirty at night and the girls needed sleep because the next day was the big game and the day they would put their plan to get rid of Finn into action.

"Okay Kiddies, we need to get to bed now. Don't forget, tomorrow's the big day..." Santana said, causing an uneasy, frightened look to settle on Quinn's face.

Rachel noticed this and wrapped her arms around the blonde, pulling her into a hug.

After Rachel calmed Quinn down enough for them to be able to sleep all three girls headed to bed.

Once they were all ready for sleep, the girls slid into bed; Quinn on the left, Rachel in the middle and Santana on the right.

[\]

When Santana woke the next morning they were all entwined; Quinn and Rachel were facing each other, legs tangled together and arms wrapped around each other, the blonde's arms also holding the Latina on the other side of the diva. Santana's legs were mixed in with the girls' and one of her arms was wrapped around the other two.

She looked at the clock and saw that they didn't have to be at the game for another two hours. She quickly set her alarm for half an hour's time, grabbed her uniform and went to get ready. Once Santana had had a shower, gotten dressed and done her make-up she left the bathroom to find Rachel awake, still cuddling Quinn.

With a smirk Santana quickly walked over to the blonde and called out "Q! Time to get up, Coach'll kill us if we're late to the game!" before Rachel could untangle herself from the girl.

After the diva managed to untangle them, with Quinn's help, she shot an icy glare at the Latina. The blonde wasn't fazed by anything, she just wanted to get ready and be at the game to cheer on time, so she wouldn't have to face Sue Sylvester's wrath.

In an hour all of the girls were ready and heading out the door, relieved that Santana only lived ten minutes away from the school. Santana and Quinn were wearing their Cheerio's uniform and Rachel was wearing an outfit the same as the day before, only her hoodie had the Deathly Hallows symbol on it from Harry Potter.


	4. Not As Planned

**A/N: Your reviews make my day guys, thank you so much! I seriously go into my email and when I see all the emails from favourites, alerts and reviews and I get this stupid grin on my face! Lol if anyone can guess who I named the detectives after I'll send you a cyber cake! (neither of them are Glee related) I am a bit worried about this chapter because I know it has some expectation about what is to happen... Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

As soon as the girls got to the football field they spotted Finn looking irritated. That didn't help Quinn's confidence in the plan very much. They didn't have long to worry about that though because as soon as Coach Sylvester saw them she screamed at them through her megaphone to get over with the other Cheerio's immediately.

Rachel gave both the girls a quick hug before they ran over to their Coach. After looking around, the diva decided that she would sit a few rows up on the bleachers because she didn't want to be right at the front in case Finn saw her and decided to be irrational.

All during the game Rachel saw the tall boy shooting glares at Santana and Quinn, looking like all he wanted to do was walk over and hit one of them.

As soon as the game was over the girls walked over to Finn, head held high and standing up straight. Rachel noticed that the blonde's hands were shaking so she reached out and gently slipped her hand into the other girl's, causing Quinn to shoot her a shocked look. Santana noticed this and smirked mentally (she didn't want Finn to see anything but the Bitch Extraordinaire that is Santana Lopez when she's angry).

When the girls got over to the tall boy, who was still around his friends, they immediately jumped to business.

"Finn, we have something to say to you. I don't believe that your mother would be very impressed with the way you have been acting towards Quinn. She deserves so much more than you and your crap!" Rachel started.

"Yeah Finnept, you are so lucky I didn't go Lima Heights on your ass when I found out what you've been doing to her. In fact, I think you were a little too lucky!" With that Santana started to lunge at him, quickly being held back by Rachel.

Quinn suddenly stepped forward and said "Finn, I can't go on with the way you have been treating me. Rachel and Santana showed me that none of this is my fault and that what you are doing is wrong. They made me open my eyes and see that I am worth more than how you treat me. I know that it was a horrible thing to do to tell you that you were the father of Beth when you weren't, but that doesn't mean that you need to shatter my self esteem and beat me to try and get your revenge. I am done with this relationship. I can't do it anymore..." As she finished her sentence Quinn turned around to walk away, but Finn had different ideas.

Only Rachel had noticed that as each of them kept talking he got angrier and angrier, his face turning purple with rage. It went almost in slow-motion as Finn grabbed Quinn's arm roughly, dragging her around to face him before he raised his fist and punched her right in the middle of her face. There was a sickening crunch sound that resounded in the silence that had descended when the girls started talking to the tall boy.

Rachel watched in horror as Quinn fell to the ground unconscious, blood pouring out of her nose and her cheek and eye starting to swell rapidly.

Almost instantly Puck spun Finn around and punched him as hard in the face as he possibly could, trying to cause as much damage as he could with one hit. After hearing what Finn had been doing to his Baby Mama Puck was enraged. The rest of the guys on the football team all grabbed Finn and held him so he couldn't do anymore damage to anyone around him.

Coach Beiste and Coach Sylvester witnessed what had happened and both of them were appalled and enraged by the boy. Beiste swiftly walked over yelling "Hudson, Figgins' office _**now!**_" She instructed some of the football team to escort him there, making sure he didn't leave the school.

As she was dealing with that, Coach Sylvester was concerned with the safety of her best Cheerio. Rachel had already called 911 and an ambulance was on the way. Santana was trying to console the diva as best she could while making sure the blonde didn't choke on the blood that was pouring from her nose while she was unconscious.

As soon as Sue got to the scene she cleared the crowd, only Santana, Quinn, Rachel and herself were left on the field waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

A minute later they heard the distinct sound of sirens and when they looked up a police car and an ambulance drove onto the field.

Rachel jumped into the ambulance with Quinn while Sue and Santana explained to the police what happened and where the boy was now. The two female police officers said they would take an official statement after they spoke to Finn and Quinn about what happened.

Statements were going to be taken from Sue, Santana, Rachel, Quinn, Finn, Shannon (Coach Beiste) and some of the cheerleaders and football team.

When the police were done with Santana she sprinted to her car and sped to the hospital, breaking quite a few speeding laws on the way. The whole way she cursed herself for letting him hurt Quinn again. Rachel was going to kill her.

Within five minutes she was at the hospital, a trip that should have taken half an hour. As soon as she parked and locked the car she ran into the hospital, quickly asking the nurse at the front desk where Quinn had been taken.

After she knew where she was going Santana sprinted as fast as she could to the waiting room to find Rachel. When she spotted the girl, she noticed the diva had tears streaming down her face. Briskly walking over to the girl, she wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a comforting embrace.

Once she had calmed down enough, Rachel proceeded to tell Santana that Quinn was in surgery for her nose. The surgery would only take about an hour to fix the break.

Santana shouldn't have worried about Rachel killing her for letting Quinn get hurt again; the girl was too busy blaming herself for not stopping the blonde from getting too close to the tall boy while she was breaking up with him.

Rachel's devastation over letting Quinn get hurt was quickly put to a halt when the police officers Detective Rose and Sergeant Wilde walked in to take their statements. The girls were taken to separate rooms for their statements.

Within ten minutes Santana was finished and in the waiting room again but Rachel wasn't done until half an hour later. The Latina snickered when the diva sat down causing the smaller brunette to glare at her like she knew what she was thinking: Rachel's longwinded speech made the statement take three times as long as Santana's.

"It's not funny Santana. I just wanted to accurately describe everything that has happened since we found out what Finn was doing. I had to tell her everything otherwise they wouldn't have a correct understanding of what Quinn went through."

Just at that moment Quinn was wheeled out of surgery and taken to a ward, followed closely by Santana, Rachel and the officers in charge of Quinn's case.

Once in they got to the room the blonde was meant to spend the next few days in, Rachel instantly pulled the chair as close to the bed as she could. As soon as she was sitting the tiny diva slipped her hand into Quinn's, her eyes never leaving the blonde's sleeping face.

Santana sat on the seat in the corner of the room while Detective Rose and Sergeant Wilde sat on the chairs outside, waiting for Quinn to wake up.

They didn't have to wait long because about ten minutes later the girl woke up with a groan.

"Ugh, why does my face hurt so much?"

Rachel flew out of her seat and covered Quinn's face and hair in kisses, squealing "You're awake!" When the diva realised what she was doing she flopped back into her chair, her face as red as a tomato.

When the police officers heard Rachel's squealing they had come in to see the tiny brunette's antics, stifling a laugh when the girl got embarrassed.

It was only when Santana walked back into the room followed by a nurse, that they realised she had left.

"Okay honey, I heard you need more pain-killers." The nurse said.

Quinn nodded with a wince, her face feeling like it had been run over by a truck.

"I'm guessing the confrontation didn't go as planned; the last thing I remember was turning around to walk away after I'd dumped him, and then I woke up here..."


	5. At the Hospital

**A/N: Another chapter, this is a record for me! Five chapters in the same amount of days! :D In this chapter you get to meet my version of Judy Fabray. Hope you guys like it, and don't forget to review; they help me to keep going! Thanks guys**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

Rachel quickly launched into a detailed recount of what happened after Quinn tried to walk away, by the end of it the blonde was pale and wide-eyed.

"How bad was my nose? What did they have to do to it? Will it look the same again?" The girl asked in a panic.

"Chill Q, your precious nose is perfectly fine. Geez, anyone would think you're Rachel..." Santana stated, earning herself a glare from Quinn and a "Hey!" from Rachel.

When everyone looked at Rachel she had locked eyes with Santana with a pout and tears sparkling in her big brown puppy dog eyes. When her chin started to quiver Santana caved "Alright, alright I'm sorry! I just meant that she sounded as obsessed about her nose as you are about yours..."

Immediately Rachel's tears were gone and replaced with a smug smirk before she registered the rest of what the Latina said, then a harsh glare took over causing Santana to slink back to her chair; trying to lose the girl's attention.

The detectives were amused by the girls because they reminded them of when themselves when they were younger.

When Santana realised that Rachel wasn't going to stop glaring at her until she got a proper apology she gave in.

With a sigh, Santana tried apologising again "Really Rach, I am sorry. I know that you're sensitive about your nose because of how you were bullied for so long and I didn't mean what I said. I am truly sorry Diva."

Rachel saw that Santana was completely sincere and replied, "Thank you. But I think I should warn you that if you say anything about my nose again, I will not hesitate to bring up your boob job."

"Rach! You promised not to talk about that..." Santana had tears in her eyes as she looked at the small girl.

"I'm sorry San. I just thought if you knew what would be brought up you wouldn't talk about my nose again..." Rachel flew across the room and hugged Santana, but as she did she felt the girl shaking with contained laughter.

When she looked up she saw no sign of the tears she saw before and a cheeky smirk on the girl's face, Santana said "You're not the only one who can act around here." With that the Latina stuck her tongue out at the diva and snickered. "You should have seen your face!"

"Santana Alexandra Lopez! That is not nice! I am not speaking to you until I think that you have learnt your lesson." With a huff, Rachel walked back over to her seat next to Quinn and held the girl's hand again.

No one noticed the discreet glance and smirk the detectives shared, both thinking the same thing 'They are so much like us when we were their age...'

Quinn had her eyes squeezed shut as tight as she could because her face was hurting so much. When Rachel noticed this her face softened and she ran her hair softly over the blonde's hair, gently running her fingertips through it.

"The pain killers should start working soon... How bad is the pain at the moment?" The diva asked the blonde.

With a groan the girl opened her eyes, replying "It feels like my face was repeatedly hit with a shovel before being run over by a truck..." Tears sprung into her eyes but the girl refused to let them fall, knowing if she did it would only cause her more pain.

Noticing this, Rachel quickly slipped onto the bed next to Quinn, wrapping her arms around the girl. After a couple of minutes the pain killers were working and the blonde was back to normal, minus the drowsiness.

Detective Rose and Sergeant Wilde took Quinn's statement when the pain killers first started working, letting Rachel stay with the girl since she had already given hers and Quinn wanted her with her.

The blonde, like Rachel, took about half an hour to give her statement because she had to talk about the previous months of Finn's abuse, when it started and why etc. It was painful for Quinn to talk about and Rachel ended up staying on the bed, comforting her, the whole time.

When the detectives were about to leave the room, Detective Rose turned around and said "I know that was extremely hard for you to talk about but we need all of this information so we can charge Mister Hudson accordingly. Thank you." She finished with a gentle smile.

Quinn fell asleep about five minutes after the police officers left so Rachel and Santana quickly ate some food in the hospital cafeteria as fast as they could before heading back to the blonde's room. The girls were shocked that Quinn's mother wasn't at the hospital to see if the blonde is okay.

Just as they were discussing that, the girls walked past the nurse's desk quickly noticing Quinn's mother at the desk.

"Hey Mrs Fabray. We can show you to Q's room." Santana called out to the older blonde.

"Oh, hello Santana. Is she okay? What happened?"

"She's fine now, in some pain but she'll live. I think we should talk about it when we get to Quinn's room, instead of where anyone can hear."

Judy agreed and the girls led the woman to her daughter's room. Once they were inside, they explained everything that had happened, including how Finn was treating Quinn for the past few months.

Judy was devastated, choking back tears she said "I should have noticed. I know the signs; I should have seen that something wasn't right..."

The woman didn't notice that Quinn was awake and had heard almost their whole conversation until the girl spoke.

"It's not your fault Mom, remember; we're Fabray's you only show people perfection."

This only caused Judy to cry harder, she couldn't believe that she raised her daughter to think like that.

Rachel and Santana quietly slipped out of the room and sat in the seats that the detectives were seated in only half an hour earlier.

Rachel told Santana that she was going to get Quinn some flowers from the two of them, asking the Latina to tell the blonde that she would be back in a few minutes if she wasn't back before Quinn and her Mom finished their conversation.

The tiny diva returned ten minutes later with a bunch of lilies, knowing that they're Quinn's favourite flower.

Santana was already back in the room, having been called back in five minutes after Rachel left for the flowers.

As soon as Quinn spotted the small brunette holding a bunch of lilies almost half the size of her body her entire face lit up.

"You got those for me?" The blonde girl asked in awe, earning herself a shy smile and nod from Rachel.

With a squeal she motioned for the small brunette to sit on the bed next to her so she could pull her into a bone-crushing hug.

As soon as Quinn felt the warmth of the diva she melted into the embrace, feeling Rachel do the same. While they were hugging everything else drifted away, it was only them in the room in their minds.

Santana loudly cleared her throat when she realised that the girls weren't going to separate any time soon. Both girls were blushing heavily when they pulled apart, remembering that they weren't alone in the room.

Rachel stood and sat the flowers, which were already in a vase, in what she deemed the 'perfect place'.

"Okay Q, it's getting late and you need some sleep so Rach and I are going to head off now. It sucks that you can't come home with us; I was really looking forward to tonight's sleepover since we didn't have to worry about getting up early." Santana said, sincerely disappointed.

"Bye Quinn, we'll be here as soon as visiting hours start in the morning." Rachel whispered into the blonde's hair as she hugged the girl goodbye.


	6. The Relapse

**AN: This chapter is extremely dramatic and it's a bit of a cliff hanger but I'm already starting on the next chapter so who knows maybe I'll even post two chapters today! Hope you guys like it, don't hate me because there's no Faberry in this chapter, I'm just finding someone for Santana...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

The moment Santana and Rachel got back to the Latina's house the tiny diva quickly locked herself in the bathroom, taking her little bag of razors with her. Once she was sure the door was safely locked she sat herself in the corner and pulled up her shirt.

There were only a few scars on the bottom of her stomach and tops of her hips because it was always easier to get to her arms. The girl knew that Santana would check her for fresh cuts, but she didn't care.

The feeling of relief that washed over her as the blade sunk into her skin was what Rachel always craved. It gave her a sick sense of pleasure watching the blood seep out of the wound and drip into the cloth below.

Each cut was a mark to make sure that she remembers how truly worthless and pathetic she is. How could she have deluded herself to think that Quinn could ever have feelings for her?

The only reason the girl was accepting her hugs and comfort is because she was scared, in pain and doped up on morphine.

Before she knew it Rachel had around a dozen cuts over her hips and stomach, each one deeper than the last. She hadn't noticed herself moving on to more after the first cut because she was in a relaxed trance watching the crimson liquid glide over soft tan skin.

The small brunette was so entranced that she didn't notice the loud banging on the door from Santana. The Latina knew what Rachel was doing and it was driving her insane not being able to stop her.

Even though her stomach was almost covered in cuts Rachel kept going, needing to feel some sort of relief from the world and her mind.

The cuts started to get deeper as she kept going, the effects from the earlier cuts starting to wear off. By the time she stopped she had around twenty deep cuts all over her stomach. If anyone saw it they would have thought it was a horror scene; Rachel was sitting in a pool of her own blood, her stomach and clothes drenched in the crimson liquid.

The girl started to feel light-headed but managed to unlock the door before passing out from blood loss.

Santana heard the door unlock and quickly flung it open, seeing the horrific scene before her she automatically pulled out her phone and called 911.

After explaining what was wrong to the lady that answered the phone she was told that an ambulance would be there in five minutes.

By the time the ambulance arrived Santana had tears streaming down her face. She was already hurting about _one _of her friends being injured in hospital, let alone two.

She didn't think the smaller girl was going to make it because she had lost so much blood for such a small person. The girl looked so small and vulnerable lying on the floor covered in blood, her pale features still. The only reason Santana knew she was still alive is the fact that she could see the girl's chest slightly rising and falling showing that she was still breathing.

The diva was rushed into surgery and Santana was left in tears in the waiting room. She knew Rachel's fathers were going to be called and informed about what is happening and she felt a form of guilt knowing that the girl didn't want her parents to know about it.

Santana knew that the girl was going to be in surgery for a while so she decided to go and tell Quinn about what was happening. She didn't want the blonde to feel out of the loop and she knew the girl cared for Rachel and would like to know when something is wrong.

When she got to Quinn's room, she noticed that the detectives were back sitting outside. They looked worried when they saw the Latina's tears as she approached the room.

As soon as the blonde saw Santana's tears she knew something was seriously wrong, she just hoped it wasn't Rachel.

Quinn quickly asked, panicking "San, what is it? What's wrong?"

The brunette choked back a sob as she answered "It's Rachel. She relapsed. She's in surgery now. I didn't think she was going to make it until the ambulance arrived. It was so bad... She went too far. I couldn't stop her, she locked the door. There was nothing I could do! I think she knew that she had gone too far just before she passed out because she unlocked the door so I could help her..." By the end of her response both girls had tears streaming down their faces, Santana sobbing loudly at the image of Rachel lying in a pool of her own blood on the bathroom floor, that was branded into her memory.

Detective Rose and Sergeant Wilde were standing in the doorway, having been curious about what had happened to make the strong Latina cry, and had heard everything she said.

"What do you mean she 'relapsed'?" Sergeant Wilde asked.

Santana calmed herself down quickly when she realised it wasn't just her and Quinn in the room and answered "Rachel suffers from depression; she cuts herself to deal with everything. Seeing Quinn hurt caused her to relapse. She hadn't cut since Wednesday and then it was only a couple not as deep as they were tonight. There was so much blood..." Just as she finished explaining Santana went pale before fainting.

Detective Rose saw the girl starting to go pale and moved forward just in time to catch her before she hit the ground. When the young detective realised that the girl wasn't going to wake up soon she lifted the Latina into her arms and carried her out to the nurse's station, asking if there was anywhere they could lay her down for a few minutes.

They found a bed for the girl and the young woman laid her down on it, waiting patiently for her to wake up.

Detective Rose was shocked to find out that the charming, playful young woman that she met earlier suffered from depression.

Santana woke up about ten minutes later and was extremely embarrassed when she realised what happened and who she's with.

The police officer told the Latina how she was shocked to hear about Rachel suffering from untreated depression and self mutilation.

"Yes, but what you don't understand Detective Rose-" Santana started before being cut off by the detective.

"You can call me Ruby."

The Latina was shocked to say the least, "Oh, okay... Ruby, Rachel is an actress. Her main goal in life is to be on Broadway. She only shows people what they want to see; a healthy, happy teenager with not a care in the world unless it concerns her future career. What you saw today is her practicing her acting. She has her character and she acts it so well that no one knows the real her, except me. Quinn and I are the only ones who know about her self-harming apart from you and Sergeant Wilde... and Q only found out last night. You saw what she wanted you to see, don't think for one second that she's faking her pain."

"There is no way that I think she is faking it. Would you like me to wait with you in the waiting room until you hear how she's doing?" Ruby asked.

Santana nodded and they walked out to the waiting room, sitting in the two closest chairs to the door that she would be brought out of. On the way to the waiting room they asked the woman at the desk whether Rachel had been brought out of surgery yet but she hadn't.

To keep Santana's mind off of Rachel, they decided to play twenty questions.

"How old are you?" Santana asked Ruby.

"I'm twenty six, you?"

"Eighteen. How long have you known Sergeant Wilde for?"

"Her name's Olivia and we've been best friends since freshman year. How long have you known Quinn?"

"Q and I met in freshman year, though there have been numerous times where we didn't consider each other friends because we were both competing for Cheer captain... she won... a few times. She's always been just that little bit better than me, so I settled for second in command..." Santana said with a small chuckle and a shake of her head. After thinking for a moment the Latina asked "Are you dating anyone?"

Ruby smirked and replied "Not right now, what about you?"

Santana gave the other woman a flirty smirk and shook her head before asking her next question "Have you ever been with a girl?"

Ruby laughed quietly and answered "Yes. Have you?"

"Yes. Are you a lesbian?"

"Yep, gold star lesbian here, you?"

"Yes lesbian, but not gold star. Have you and Olivia ever had a thing?"

"No, we're sisters more than anything. Plus, she's straight. What do you want to do career wise when you finish school?"

"I want to be a lawyer. Did you always want to be a police officer?" Santana yawned and stretched her arms over her head, causing her sleeves to fall revealing her scars to Ruby.

"Yeah. Did you used to cut yourself?"

With a gulp Santana realised that her arm was exposed and she'd taken the make-up off it when she got home. "Yes. It's why Rachel and I are so close; I noticed her acting strangely and befriended her and then I found out that she was cutting herself like I used to. Have you ever self-harmed?"

Ruby looked at the girl like she was trying to figure out whether she should tell the girl for a moment before answering "Yes. I actually attempted suicide but Olivia found me and called an ambulance. Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, I have an older brother Alejandro, an older sister Natalia, a younger brother Mateo, and twin younger sisters Carmen and Gabriela. What about you?"

"Wow, you have a big family. No, I'm an only child. What are your parents' names?"

"My Mamá's name is Maria and my Papá is Victor. What are your parents' names?"

"My Mom's name is Katia, and my Dad's name is Alec. How old are your siblings?"

"Alejandro is twenty eight, Natalia is twenty six, Mateo is fourteen and Carmen and Gabriela are eight. Do you have any tattoos?"

Ruby and Santana went back and forth like this, until the doctor came out and it was only then that the Latina remembered why they were there, immediately stopping laughing.

"Family for Rachel Berry?"


	7. Ruby

**AN: Two updates in one day! I don't really have anything to say this time except: Don't forget to review guys, I like to know what you think about the story! Again, hope you enjoy it even though this chapter's a little short! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

Santana flew out of her seat and over to the older man, saying "That's me!"

When the doctor asked her of her relation to the diva she told him that she's Rachel's sister. It was practically true...

"Rachel had lost a lot of blood when she got here so she needed a blood transfusion. There was a total of twenty three gashes on her stomach that all needed stitches. All together, she needed over one hundred stitches. We have to keep her here for seventy two hours under suicide watch. She should be waking up soon if you would like me to take you to her room." The doctor informed them.

Santana had tears in her eyes when she heard how badly Rachel had hurt herself and how close she was to losing her.

Ruby quickly hugged the girl when she saw the tears in her eyes and accompanied her to the smaller brunette's room, waiting outside for her.

Santana entered the room and saw that Rachel was awake. There were no objects in the room that she could use to harm herself and a nurse was to check on her once every hour.

"How are you feeling Rach?"

"Horrible; my stomach is killing me... I'm so sorry San, I didn't even realise how far I went until I felt like I was going to pass out so I unlocked the door for you..." That's all the diva said before she started sobbing.

"It's okay, you're okay now Rach..." She gently sat on the edge of the bed stroking the smaller brunette's hair, trying to comfort her.

Ten minutes later and both girls were all out of tears. Santana had told the girl that her parents would be called so they would find out what happened.

She also told Rachel about Ruby being outside and that she knows about everything so the diva said she could come in.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Ruby asks, looking sympathetic.

"Horrible..." There was a pause and Rachel turned to Santana and asks "Do I have any pain killers or am I supposed to suffer? Is this the hospitals way of saying 'well you did it now you can live with the pain'?"

The Latina chuckled and said "Getting back to normal already, Diva?" Before being serious and saying "I'll go ask the nurse..."

The silence that descended when Santana left was almost unbearable it was so awkward. Rachel didn't know how to act around this woman that the Latina suddenly befriended. The diva felt that the taller brunette didn't just like the older woman as a friend though and she got the same vibe from Ruby.

While waiting for Santana to return Rachel decided to observe the older woman she thinks her friend has a crush on. At some point Ruby had gotten changed into a pair of ripped skinny jeans, converse and a black singlet that had a song's music notes printed on it in white.

In short, she looked _hot._

When Santana walked back in she noticed the intense stare Rachel was giving Ruby and the uncomfortable, awkward look the older woman had while trying not to make eye contact with the small brunette.

The nurse didn't stop to chat; she just walked in to set up the diva's pain killers and left without a word.

Rachel turned to Santana and gave her a smile that said 'I like her, she's nice. When she's gone we're planning how you can get her.', referring to Ruby.

Santana gave the girl a smirk in return saying she got the girl's message and agreed.

Ruby cleared her throat quietly to break the girls' telepathic conversation to tell them that she would be heading home.

"Okay, I'll walk you to your car." Santana said.

"Goodnight Ruby, thank you for helping Quinn with Finn. Try and make sure he gets in as much trouble as he can won't you?"

"I am going to try as hard as I can to make sure he gets at least a few months behind bars. I hope you start to feel better Rachel and you're not in too much pain. Good night..." Ruby finished with a small smile, trying to get the diva to like her.

"Thank you."

When they got to Ruby's car Santana hugged the older woman tight, whispering "Good night, drive home safely" in her ear before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

The Latina looked at her feet with a heavy blush on her face that she was hoping the other woman couldn't see in the dark; unfortunately she wasn't so lucky as there was a street lamp a few metres away.

This caused Ruby to giggle and pull the girl into a gentle hug and leaving a kiss on the younger girl's cheek, as had been done to her, causing butterflies to erupt in their stomaches.

As she started to pull away from the embrace, Santana put a hand around the woman's neck and pulled her into a soft kiss.

For a moment Ruby was shocked but it was short lived when she started reciprocating a second later. It was only when Santana slid her tongue across the woman's lower lip that Ruby pulled away.

"What are we doing?" The older woman asked, their foreheads touching.

"I'm going to ask you out on a date, and see where it goes from there... If that's okay with you, of course." Santana replied.

"You're going to ask me out? Where will we go?" Ruby asked with a shy smile.

"Hmm, maybe Breadsticks, maybe a picnic, you'll just have to find out when I ask you, won't you?" Santana said with a flirty smile.

"And you're not asking me now?" The other woman asked with a pout.

"No, I need to make it special so I need time to plan. So, it'll probably be next weekend if you're available...?"

"I have next weekend off so it's perfect!"

"Okay, well you have to be up early and I don't want you tired on the job so... *kiss* goodnight *kiss* and drive safe" Santana kissed Ruby once more before watching her drive away until she could no longer see the woman's car.

Santana didn't even notice herself walking back to Rachel's room because she was on cloud nine, already planning the date in her head.

The smaller brunette knew something good had happened by the ecstatic grin the Latina had on her face.

"What happened?"

Santana sighed happily before responding "We kissed. And she knows that I'm going to ask her out on a date for next weekend; that way I have time to plan and she has the weekend off. It's perfect!"

"Wow! San, I thought we were going to need to have a plan before she would even think about you that way! Okay, so, what have you got planned for this date? Do you need my help planning?" Rachel was getting excited thinking about Santana not being lonely anymore.

"Well, I was thinking..."


	8. Planning the Date

**AN: Here you go, another chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

Half way through a conversation about what Santana should plan for the date, Rachel realised that Mateo, Carmen and Gabriela hadn't been at the house when she was there.

"Where are Mateo, Carmen and Gabriela?"

"Wow that was a little random... Don't worry, Mama and Papa organised for them to stay at their friends' places for the weekend when they decided to stay in Chicago this weekend."

"Oh. Okay. That's good."

"Where'd you think they were?" Santana laughed.

"...I don't know..." Rachel said with a blush. "Okay, well, back to planning."

"So, we've decided so far that I'm going to take her out for a picnic at dusk at my meditation point, afterwards going to the cinema to see a movie of her choice. Is that it?"

"You need to get her flowers! I've told you three times already! And we need to plan your outfit and what food you're taking on the picnic; does she have any allergies or dietary restrictions? You need to find this stuff out Santana!"

"Okay, okay! I'll call her in the morning, it's too late now; she'll be sleeping because she has work early tomorrow."

"Okay. San how's Quinn?"

"She's feeling a little better than she did when she first woke up. She's worried about you, but I'm sure she could come visit you on one of her walks tomorrow."

Santana checked her phone for the time and saw that it was 3:30am. She immediately told Rachel that she needed to sleep and turned out the lights.

Rachel was so exhausted that she didn't wake up even when the nurse came in every hour to check on her, though Santana wasn't so fortunate. The Latina woke up every time the nurse came in, every time someone beeped for a nurse and every time there was the slightest sound; meaning, Santana got no sleep.

At 5am the feisty Latina decided to shoot off a good morning text to Ruby. It read "_Morning Beautiful, hope you have a good day! Xx P.S. Call me when you've got the chance?"_

Two seconds later Santana's phone started buzzing so she snuck outside the room so she wouldn't disturb Rachel.

"Hey Beautiful"

"Aww, hey Lovely. Why'd you want me to call you?"

"Rachel reminded me that I don't know if you have any allergies or dietary restrictions, so I don't know what to do for the date... So, do you?"

With a chuckle Ruby responded, "Yeah, actually I do. I'm a form of vegetarian; I don't eat any meat or milk but I do eat fish and cheese"

"Oh. Damn, Rach was right..." Santana sighed, causing Ruby to laugh.

There was a comfortable silence before Ruby asked cheekily "So... Are you going to tell me where we're going for our date?"

"No... But I will tell you that I've planned most of it already and we're going to a place that is special to me..."

The girls spent another half an hour talking before Ruby realised that it was 5:45am "Crap! I have to get to work! Okay Lovely, I'll talk to you later. I might even drop by the hospital to see you and Rachel when I finish my shift!"

"Okay, bye Beautiful. I'll talk to you this afternoon."

Once off the phone, Santana quietly snuck back into Rachel's room and sat in the chair in the corner, picking her phone back up after a few minutes to go on Facebook.

It wasn't until 7:30am that the diva finally woke up and it was only because she needed more pain killers. Once the nurse had come in to check on her and give the girl more pain meds Rachel went straight back to sleep for another few hours; her body needing the rest to heal faster.

Santana quickly went home to get showered and changed, putting on fresh make-up; taking special care to cover up the scars on her arms.

The day was pretty uneventful; Rachel and Santana planning the date, Quinn stopped by to see if the diva was okay and then Ruby came in the afternoon. That's not including the nurse who dropped by every hour, checking that Rachel was okay. It was driving the small brunette insane.

Rachel convinced them that she was fine there by herself for the night, shooing them off to get dinner, relax and stop worrying about her.

The women decided to get take-away from the local Chinese restaurant and watch a movie while they were waiting for it to be delivered and while they were eating.

Santana let Ruby choose the movie and they ended up watching _White Chicks_ because it was a comedy and they didn't want to watch anything too heavy.

[\]

Ruby ended up sleeping at Santana's house because she had a late shift and it didn't matter if she got up a bit later than normal.

When she woke up, Ruby noticed the weight around her waist, causing her to panic for a moment before she remembered where she was.

Melting into the embrace, the woman rolled over in the girl's arms, watching her sleep. It was quite possibly the cutest thing she had ever seen. The way Santana's eyebrow furrowed, before pulling the woman tighter to her, the way she let out a small whimper when Ruby shifted. There were so many more things the girl did that caused the woman to melt inside but it would be too many to list.

Santana awoke half an hour later, face to face with the woman she was crushing on. Ruby pulled the girl closer to her, snuggling her face into the crook of Santana's neck, leaving a chaste kiss on it before kissing her on the cheek and moving to get out of bed to brush her teeth.

The women only started talking once they had both brushed their teeth. After the Latina left the bathroom Ruby walked over to the young woman, wrapping her arms around her and whispering "Good morning" before lightly kissing her.

"Morning... What do you want for breakfast?"

"Just a coffee if that's alright with you?"

"That's perfect actually."

After both women were dressed and had drunk their coffees they headed off to the hospital to visit Quinn and Rachel. They took Ruby's work uniform and left it in the boot of the car so if they left it a bit too late she could get dressed quickly and Santana would drop her off at work.

When they got to Rachel's room at the hospital they saw that Quinn was lying on the bed with her, both of them fast asleep.

"Aww they're just too cute..." Ruby whispered with a smile plastered on her face.

"Yeah... But not as cute as you." Santana replied.

The short-haired woman laughed quietly, saying "I didn't know you were so cheesy Lovely" before sticking her tongue out at the girl.

Santana shrugged before saying "Meh, it had to be said..."

The girls sat in the chairs in Rachel's room, waiting for her and Quinn to wake up before Ruby had to go to work.

Santana was running her hand through Ruby's short dark hair, leaning in for a kiss every few seconds, until the girls woke up.

When Quinn saw that she and Rachel weren't alone she almost fell off the bed she pulled away from the diva so quickly. This caused the diva to tighten her hold on the blonde before she woke up a few moments later.

"What are you two doing here? I thought you were going home to rest and Ruby had to work...?" Rachel asked, slightly embarrassed about being caught cuddling the blonde.

"We did go home and rest, now it's the next day and Ruby's shift starts at..." Santana checked her watch "Shit, you have to be there in twenty minutes!"

With that the Latina and the short-haired woman ran out of the room calling goodbyes over their shoulders, Santana promising to be back in a few minutes.


	9. Getting Closer

**AN: I know it annoyed some people about Ruby saying she doesn't eat milk but she eats cheese even though it's a milk based product, so I just have to say that she's based on a real person who has stated she eats that way. I know that it's weird but I just had to say that I didn't make that up. Some Faberry in this chapter, I hope that makes up for the lack of update yesterday! Hope you enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

In less than fifteen minutes Ruby was dressed and at work, quickly giving Santana a kiss before sprinting to the front doors of the station where Olivia was waiting for her. The Latina noticed the smirk and small shake of the head Olivia gave Ruby when the shorter woman reached her.

The drive to the hospital only took ten minutes but because she was alone for the first time in a couple of days it felt like forever to Santana.

On the way she thought about Ruby, about Quinn and Rachel, about everything that has happened in the past week. She felt sadness about what Rachel did, she felt anger about Finn, and she felt compassion towards Quinn but most of all she felt the beginnings of love starting to shimmer for Ruby.

Once Santana had parked at the hospital she pulled out her iphone, put her headphones in and walked to Rachel's room, sensing that Quinn would still be there.

The Latina decided that she would talk to Rachel about it when the blonde wasn't there.

[\]

After the girls watched Santana and Ruby run out the door they sat there frozen for a moment before Quinn slid out of the bed and sat on the chair instead, avoiding eye contact.

With a sigh Rachel said "You don't have to stay with me, I can tell you don't want to be here. You can go to your room."

The small girl's words seemed to trigger something in the blonde because the taller girl immediately jumped out of her chair, sat on the edge of the bed and said "No, no, it's not that I don't want to be here. I'm just confused about some things, that's all..."

Rachel ran her fingertips through Quinn's hair and murmured "You can tell me anything..."

The blonde looked up with tears in her eyes, let out a shaky breath and said "I just have these feelings, they're not right and I don't know what to do!" before she started to cry.

The small brunette instantly pulled the girl to her, being careful not to hurt her own stitches in the process. Rachel whispered in the girl's ear "You don't have to do anything..."

Once Quinn had calmed down they laid back on the bed in a comfortable silence. After a moment Rachel decided to be bold and turned her head to drop a kiss on the blonde's cheek before pulling back to watch Quinn's normally pale cheeks turn a bright shade of red.

Santana walked in just at that moment and smirked before plopping unceremoniously into the chair, causing Quinn's blush to deepen.

The Latina still hadn't taken her headphones out and was in her own little world, not hearing Rachel trying to get her attention until the small girl pulled out her headphones.

"Hey! I was listening to that!"

"I'm sorry, but I just spent the last five minutes trying to get your attention and that was the only option left. What did you and Ruby do last night?"

"We got take out and watched a couple of movies, by then it was late so she slept over. Then when we woke up we got ready, had some coffee and came to visit you two sleeping beauties. We were here for about half an hour before you woke up..." Santana informed the girls.

The intense blush on both girls' faces was enough to make the Latina laugh at them.

Trying to change the subject Rachel said, "Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you that my Dads' came to see me last night... They were devastated and are now looking for another therapist for me since I said I didn't feel comfortable talking to my other one."

"Where are they now though? Because I haven't seen them all morning..."

"They're probably still sleeping; they didn't leave here until late."

"Okay. Do you want me to leave you two alone?" She said with a smirk, causing the girls to blush again.

[\]

It was around 10:30am when Hiram and Leroy Berry came back to the hospital to see Rachel. Santana wasn't very impressed with them taking so long to get to there the night before. Although she doesn't really like how they didn't notice that there was something wrong with their daughter, yet the girl who called her names daily had.

Santana left the room to give them some privacy since the men were completely shattered that their baby had almost killed herself.

Seeing as she had nothing to do, she quickly sent a text to Ruby saying _'Missing you. Can't wait to talk to you... xx'_

She put her headphones in and started playing Angry Birds on her iphone, trying to beat her high score.

An hour later and Santana had gotten past two levels that she could never get past before and had beaten her high score when her phone buzzed with a reply.

'_I miss you too... I'm on my break now but Liv is making me go out for lunch with her so I can tell her all about you xx'_

Quinn had gone back to her room when Santana was waiting outside so Rachel was alone with her parents.

When the Berry men went to get lunch, Santana and Quinn went back to Rachel's room.

"How are they dealing with everything?"

"Good San. I'm pretty sure I could ask them for anything right now and they would get it for me..." Rachel said before giving the Latina a look that said _'But they can't get me Quinn...' _"How's Ruby? Have you spoken to her since this morning?"

"Well, I sent her a message earlier and I got a reply as soon as she got on her lunch break but she couldn't come see me because Liv was taking her out for lunch to talk about me apparently." Santana said with a small chuckle.

"So, are you two dating?" Quinn took this chance to chime into the conversation.

"Well, kind of, I haven't asked her officially yet so no... But that's going to change this weekend if everything goes to plan."

The girls kept chatting about anything and everything until the Berry men got back, then Quinn and Santana went back to the blonde's room and kept talking until Ruby got there, then they all went back to the small brunette's room.

Quinn took the bed with Rachel and Ruby sat on Santana's lap on the chair. All four girls were cuddling and only talking when necessary, the rest of the time was spent in a comfortable silence.

Most of the night was spent like that until Santana and Ruby went back to the short-haired woman's apartment to sleep, leaving Quinn and Rachel asleep at the hospital.

Hiram and Leroy had left just after Ruby had arrived at the hospital so the four girls had spent the night alone together (not including the nurse that drops by every hour).


	10. Think of Yourself First

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

Quinn was discharged a couple of days later, going home to spend time with her mother who was trying to patch up their relationship. Rachel's fathers had started to mend their relationship with the small girl, realising that they had only cared about how they looked to society.

Santana's parents had come home and been informed of everything that had happened over the weekend (minus everything with Ruby, since her parents don't know she's a lesbian). They allowed her to have time off school until Rachel was able to go back, which looked like it would be later in the week or the beginning of the next week.

Quinn and Rachel were getting closer, the only thing stopping them from being together was the blonde's fear of her mother's reaction and that fear was quickly diminishing as she was getting to know the person her mother is now. Judy also allowed Quinn time off school because her face was still healing and she wanted to make sure the tiny diva was okay.

The three girls were sitting in Rachel's hospital room half way through a conversation about what was going to happen when they got back to school when Quinn suddenly said "I think I'm going to have a change of style for when I go back, like you did Rach."

Rachel's eyes lit up as she thought about the possibilities of how they could change the blonde's style, saying, "Do you have anything in mind yet? Or do we need to discuss ideas?"

"Uhm, well I was thinking of going with black outfits like you did but I'm also thinking about dying my hair pink..."

"Wow, really?" The small brunette asked.

"Yeah but not all of it; I'm going to leave a couple of small bits blonde..."

Rachel squealed and said with a classic Rachel Berry smile, "You're going to look awesome!"

Just as the girls were about to dive into a conversation about what type of clothes Quinn should wear they heard a quiet gasp in the doorway, causing all three girls to quickly turn to the door.

Rachel went pale as she took in the small form of the wide eyed brunette woman, who was nearly a spitting image of herself.

Santana leaped out of her seat, stopping right in front of the woman saying with a growl, "What are you doing here?"

The woman looked to be in shock before saying "I was just walking past when I heard Rachel's voice... What happened?"

"That is none of your business..." Santana was almost shaking with rage at this point, thinking _'How __dare__ she walk back in and pretend she cares about her? All she's going to do is shatter Rachel even more, when she needs to heal the most! I will not allow Shelby to do that to her again...'_

"She's my daughter; of course it's my business!"

"Oh, so _now_ she's your daughter? You didn't think that when you rejected her last year, telling her that she's not what you wanted! And then, to top it all off you go and adopt one of the girls' from her own glee club's daughter? And you think you have the right to know why she's here right now? Well if you must know, it's your fault she's here! If you hadn't shattered her so completely last year she wouldn't be here right now!

Seeing the tears starting to fall down Shelby's face snapped Rachel out of her shock. "Santana, don't be rude! I'm fine Shelby; really, you can go and do whatever you were doing here now..."

Just then the nurse came in to check on Rachel, saying "How are you feeling dear? Is the pain getting better? I've been told you're healing exceptionally well."

"Oh, I'm feeling okay thank you. The pain isn't as bad today but it's still pretty bad..." Rachel replied.

When the nurse left Shelby asked "Where are your fathers? Surely since their only child is in hospital at least one of them would be here? And please, would someone tell me why you're here?"

"My fathers are at work. They were here the other night... And as for the fact of why I'm here-"

Santana cut the tiny diva off, growling "I already told you; she's here because of you!"

"Santana! Shelby, it's nothing. I am completely fine, you don't need to worry."

"Rachel, I'm not going to leave until I know what's going on..."

Santana and Quinn could sense that Rachel's resolve was about to break and were both worrying about Shelby's reaction to the revelation.

"Fine! You want to know why I'm here? Because I'm a freak. No one wants me and I know that. I found that cutting helped and got addicted. I suffer from depression and on the weekend, Saturday night to be precise; I went too far in one of my episodes. I'm off suicide watch now but my wounds were so bad they're keeping me here longer. I barely survived and if it wasn't for Santana I wouldn't have. Now you know. You can leave now." Rachel snapped.

Shelby looked like she was going to pass out from the news that Rachel had almost died on the weekend.

Santana and Quinn were sitting in the awkward silence that had descended after Rachel's revelation until the Latina spotted the diva's tears that were about to spill over.

Not wanting Shelby to see Rachel break down she stood up again and walked over to the woman quietly saying, "Okay Shelby, I think you should go now..."

Shelby had tears running down her face as she ignored the Latina and walked over to her daughter's bed.

"I'm so sorry Rachel, I had no idea it would affect you so much. I thought I was doing what was best for you but I was wrong. Please can you forgive me? I would like to be your Mom and help you through this along with your fathers and your friends. What you said about no one wanting you is so untrue me; your fathers and your friends love you very much and want to make sure you're okay and that you don't feel like this ever again."

Shelby's speech caused Rachel's tears to spill over as she sobbed. Quinn and Santana didn't know what to do, so they were both just standing there awkwardly.

After a minute the small girl composed herself enough to reply "I don't know Shelby. I can't deal with anymore heartbreak from you, you don't know what you walking away did to me. You need to be completely positive that this is what you want before you start acting like my mother. I won't make it if you walk away again..."

At this Quinn crawled onto the bed to pull Rachel into a comforting hug and Santana watched the older brunette to make sure she was okay.

Ruby had had an early shift that day and arrived at the small brunette's room at that moment; she wasn't dressed in her uniform and had obviously gone home before going to the hospital.

She quickly realised that it was a serious situation and quietly walked up to Santana, wrapping her arms around the younger girl's waist.

Shelby noticed the new person in the room and instantly dried her tears and said "Rachel, I want to be in your life with every fibre of my being. You don't know how horrible I feel about leaving you, I feel even more horrible now... Please, think about it. I'll come back tomorrow to see if you've decided. I'll understand if you don't want me to be in your life after what I did before... I am truly sorry..." And with that the woman left.

The moment Shelby was out the door Rachel started sobbing loudly, tears streaming down her face. Santana gave Ruby a quick kiss before sitting on the bed next to the smaller brunette, on the side Quinn wasn't occupying, and cuddled the girl.

Ruby had no idea what had happened or who the woman that upset Rachel so much was, although she assumed she was of some relation to the girl because of their startling resemblance.

"I don't know what to do!" Rachel said between sobs.

"Do whatever you want to do. Remember, you have to put yourself first, especially at the moment. Don't base your decision on her feelings. I'll let you think this through on your own, but if you want to talk about it Quinn and I are here. And I'm sure if you wanted a fresh perspective you could talk to Ruby too, isn't that right Ruby?"

Even though the short-haired woman had no clue what was going on she nodded anyway because she would be more than happy to help Rachel.

"I want her to be in my life and I want to get to know her but I couldn't handle it if she left me again..." Rachel said in a hoarse whisper.

"Rach, I know Shelby is a good person; I wouldn't have let her adopt Beth if she wasn't... I know she didn't act like much of a mother to you when you first met but she seems like she is truly sorry. More so now that she knows how it affected you. But you have to think of yourself; no one else's feelings should be what you make your decision on." Quinn said.


	11. Taking Ruby's Advice

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

The four girls sat in silence for a few minutes where Rachel looked deep in thought.

"Could I talk to Ruby alone please? I need a fresh perspective..."

Santana and Quinn agreed to leave the room, saying they would go for coffee. Quinn dropped a kiss on Rachel's cheek and Santana kissed Ruby before the two girls left the room.

"So, tell me what you're thinking...?" The older girl said.

"I think that I want her to be in my life. I want a mother. But last time she found me she said she wanted to be a mother to me but then decided that she didn't want me; I wasn't good enough. She seems genuine this time, but she did last time too. Let's face it, she's the older version of me; she has the most unbelievable acting abilities. She could tell you that pigs fly and unicorns exist while she's acting and you would believe her! How can I trust that she's not going to walk away again? If she decides that I'm not worth her time, not what she wanted or not good enough to be her daughter, I'm not going to make it..."

"Okay, well, maybe you should give her a chance. Have a couple of outings where someone is with you so you're not alone with her and form a friendship. If she can't agree to that then she shouldn't get a chance. I'm sure Quinn and Santana would be more than happy to help you out, hell, I'd go with you if you asked!"

"Okay... I'll give her a chance. I'll organise to go for coffee when I get out of here, maybe you and San can come with me?"

"What about Quinn?"

"I don't think she would feel comfortable around Shelby, especially if Shelby brings Beth with her..."

"Who's Beth?" Ruby asked.

"...Beth is Quinn's daughter. Shelby adopted her... after she rejected me..." Rachel replied.

Ruby winced as she realised why this was so hard for the small brunette to decide whether or not to let her mother into her life. The girl's mother rejected her and then went along to adopt one of her peer's, the girl she loves in fact, baby. She now knows why Santana seemed so angry at Shelby; it was her that first sent Rachel into her depression.

"Rach, I'm so sorry I didn't know... I would be more than happy to join you and Shelby and I'm sure San will be too."

The two girls spent the next ten minutes talking before deciding that they should probably send a message to Quinn and Santana telling them that they could come back.

Within five minutes the Latina and the blonde were back at the diva's room, both immediately noticing that Rachel seemed a lot calmer than she was when they left.

"So... have you decided?" Santana asked.

"Yes; I'm going to give her a chance, only one. I want to know her on a friend basis first so it won't be as bad if she decides to walk away and I'm not going to meet with her on my own until I decide I'm ready. So until then I'm going to need people to come with me when Shelby and I meet, if that's okay...?"

"Of course Diva, I would be more than happy to help; I've gotta make sure she doesn't hurt my little sister now don't I?" Santana said with a wink, causing Rachel to giggle.

"...Rach, I don't know... I want to help you and Shelby have a relationship, but I don't know if I'm ready to take the chance that I'm going to see Beth yet... I'm really sorry..."

"It's no problem Quinn; I thought that might be how you felt so I already asked Ruby if she would come with Santana and me to meet Shelby for coffee after I get out of here."

[\]

Rachel's fathers came by later that night for a visit, only staying there for about an hour before saying they needed to go get dinner and get to bed because they had to be at work early the next morning.

Quinn stayed the night at the hospital because Rachel was still slightly upset over seeing Shelby. The girl didn't tell her fathers about seeing the woman because she didn't want to upset them.

Ruby and Santana spent the night at Ruby's apartment, just talking about everything, including Shelby. Santana spent the majority of the night telling Ruby about everything that had happened the previous year at McKinley High.

Ruby was shocked that she hadn't heard about all the drama that happened there the previous year, of course she'd heard about the bullying; it had been like that when she went there too.

The short-haired woman had really wanted to change the school when she got on the force but she soon found out that they couldn't do anything about it unless students or their parents pressed charges.

Ruby could relate with Rachel on the bullying front. When she went to McKinley there was this girl, the head cheerleader, who decided that she would make Ruby's life a living hell when she found out that she's a lesbian. By the end of the day the whole school knew and she was ostracised from the school community. Olivia was the only person who would socialise with her.

After Santana finished telling her all about what happened at McKinley now, Ruby told her about how it was when she was there. Apparently the school hadn't changed in the few years between now and when she had been there.

It was around 11:30pm when the two girls finally fell asleep.

[\]

The next morning Shelby was back at the hospital to find out Rachel's decision. It looked like the woman hadn't had any sleep, and was relying on coffee to keep her awake. Shelby had gotten a babysitter to take Beth so she could see Rachel, knowing that Quinn probably wouldn't be comfortable seeing the baby yet.

All night she was up stressing over what Rachel's decision was going to be, trying to calm herself by watching Funny Girl and when that didn't work, drinking glass after glass of coffee.

And it showed on her face.

The girls could see that the woman was worried about what Rachel's decision was going to be. Ruby was at work, so she made Santana promise that she would tell her what happened later.

Rachel took a deep breath before saying "I thought about what you said last night, and talked it through with my friends, and I've decided... that I would like to have you in my life. But we're going to start out as friends and at least one of my friends is going to be with us when we meet up until I feel comfortable without them there. I need to know that you're not going to abandon me again..." The small brunette finished with tears in her eyes.

A single tear slipped down Shelby's cheek as she said "Rachel, sweetie, I can't apologise enough for what I did to you when I first found you... I want to be a part of your life more than I've ever wanted anything in life! I'm going to try as hard as I can to never hurt you in any way again."

"Can we organise to go out for coffee when I get out of here? Ruby and Santana will be tagging along with us."

"Of course! I'll leave you my number and you can message me when you'd like to see me. Call me when you're allowed home? I'll give you some space now, I'll be heading home... Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your life Rachel..." Shelby said, leaning down and giving Rachel a quick hug before leaving.

"Well, that went better than I thought it would..." Santana said.


	12. Meeting Up With Shelby

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

Rachel was discharged from the hospital on two days later. Since it was a Friday Santana and Ruby thought they should go out for coffee with Shelby that afternoon, seeing as they had their first date that weekend.

Quinn and Rachel were rapidly growing closer, already acting like a couple even though they're not dating. Santana was quite amused by it all, patiently waiting for them to get together.

The Latina had told Ruby all about Rachel being in love with Quinn and that she had a strong feeling that the blonde felt the same.

Rachel's fathers were starting to become distant again, seeing that the girl had a support system already. To others they seemed like they cared, sometimes they actually did care but most of it was superficial. They spent most of their time away, not spending time with Rachel unless it was at meals or if someone was over.

Judy Fabray was being a fantastic mother to Quinn and when she noticed that Rachel's fathers weren't around as much as they should be, she started being a sort of adoptive mother to Rachel.

Santana's parents were kind to Rachel and had taken the girl into their family when the two girls started being friends. They had visited the small brunette a couple of times while she was in hospital and were being fairly lenient with Santana staying over Ruby's place since she was in the police force. And they had a feeling that she was more than just Santana's friend.

Ruby and Olivia had accepted the girls into their little friend family and they all got along really well.

All of this helped Rachel to start healing emotionally; building a new family for herself since her fathers weren't around as much as they should be.

Rachel hesitantly picked up the card that Shelby left for her that had her number on it so she could message her.

'_Hey Shelby, it's Rachel, I just got discharged from hospital about an hour ago and we were wondering if you would like to go for coffee?'_

About two minutes later Rachel got a response for Shelby, agreeing to coffee and setting up a time and place. They decided on the Starbucks in Lima at 4:30pm because it was common ground for them.

Rachel had some hope that if the relationship with her mother went well then she would have some actual blood related family that cares about her.

Santana and Ruby were extremely excited for their date the following day, Ruby not knowing what Santana had planned.

Quinn and Rachel made plans for the next day to go shopping for the blonde's new clothes and hair dye.

Ten minutes later the girls were at Starbucks and waiting at a table in the front corner of the shop, waiting for the older woman to arrive.

When Shelby showed up, she apologised profusely for being late telling them that Beth's babysitter was running late.

After everyone had ordered their coffee there was an awkward silence until Shelby spoke softly. "Why didn't you tell me your dads aren't around much?"

"Why should I have had to? I didn't want you to form a relationship with me purely out of guilt and pity. If that's why you're here, you should leave now." Rachel replied curtly, causing all three other women to wince slightly.

"No, that's not what I meant Rachel, I meant, why didn't you tell me that I wouldn't be intruding on the happy family I thought I was? I wouldn't have left you if I had known..."

Swallowing back tears, Rachel responded, "I didn't want you to know that my fathers didn't want me; because if you knew that they didn't want me then obviously something is wrong with me and you wouldn't want me either... But that didn't end up mattering because you didn't want me in the end anyway..."

"Rach, you know that's not true... I left because I thought I would be disrupting a happy family and causing trouble. If I'd known then that that wasn't the case I would have been there..." Shelby said, looking remorseful and heartbroken about the pain her daughter is feeling.

Santana and Ruby were having their own private, quiet conversation but both were listening to the conversation happening between the other two women, making sure nothing was going wrong.

"Are your fathers at home at the moment?"

"No, they have an emergency work conference in Washington; they had to leave yesterday..."

"Where are you going to be staying?"

"Probably at home, I might have people staying with me. That is, if I'm not staying at someone else's house..."

"You could stay with me, if you want to..." Shelby said with big, hopeful brown eyes, almost identical to Rachel's.

"Maybe, I don't have anyone that could stay with me though; Santana and Ruby are out and Quinn can't stay with me at your house..."

"I'm not going to do anything to upset you; I just don't think you should be alone at the moment."

"Maybe I could stay with you until Dad and Daddy get back. I don't want to be a burden to Quinn and Santana and their families..."

"Yeah! That would be fantastic!" Shelby said, looking ecstatic.

Santana and Ruby were happy that Rachel and Shelby were getting along better than they had originally expected, although Santana was still worried that the older woman was going to hurt her friend.

The Latina felt a little bad that she was going on a date while her best friend is just out of hospital, but the fact that it meant the girl was going to stay with her mother, giving them time to bond, made her feel better.

"I have a room dedicated to my music collection and my piano at home, if you want we can sing a song of your choice..."

"I assume you have a Barbra collection?" Rachel asked with a huge grin.

"Honey, half of the room is dedicated to Barbra!" Shelby replied with a matching grin.

This caused the two of them to break out into peals of laughter, which made Santana and Ruby smile at the scene.

The women continued like that for another hour and a half before they decided that Rachel should go home and pack her stuff.

[\]

Arriving at Shelby's was a daunting moment for Rachel, her worries amplified because she was heading into the unknown.

Santana and Ruby had stayed with her while she packed her bag to go to her mother's house. One of the most scary things for Rachel was the fact she was going to see Beth for the first time.

She was going to see Quinn's daughter.

Ruby and Santana could sense the diva's fear and each wrapped an arm around her, trying to ease her fears.

Ruby had immediately taken an intense affinity to Rachel, for the girl reminded her of a younger version of herself; one more into singing and Broadway, but herself none the less. Rachel felt the same way about the woman and they had formed a strong sibling type relationship quickly.

The door swung open twenty two seconds after Rachel rung the doorbell (she was counting) to show a relieved Shelby. The girls felt bad for the woman, she had obviously been worried that Rachel was going to chicken out and not show up.

Shelby immediately took in the loving embrace the two girls had her daughter in and smiled, happy that the girl had people who cared for her even when she wasn't there.

"Come in! Would you girls like anything to drink?"

"Could I please have a glass of water?" Rachel asked, earning an echo from Ruby and Santana asking for water too.

Shelby showed the girls into the spacious living room before going to get water for them. Rachel sat down on the lounge and Santana followed suit, taking up the other half, leaving Ruby to sit on the Latina's lap facing the diva.

Santana was running her hand through Ruby's hair while the other woman studied Rachel. The girl looked worried about being there so she reached out and pulled her into a hug.

While she was hugging the smaller girl she quietly whispered into her hair "Relax, it's going to be okay. If anything happens and you get upset and don't want to be here anymore, all you have to do is call me or Santana and we'll be here within a few minutes." She pulled away from the girl to see her reaction and once she had gotten a nod and a mumbled 'okay' she quickly kissed Rachel's cheek, giving the girl a comforting smile.


	13. So Much In Common

**AN: This chapter is dedicated to my best friend Steph, because she demanded that I update the story even though I was just finishing writing this chapter! XD Ily **

**Special thanks to Cassicio and fatima343 for all your reviews! :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

Shelby returned a few minutes later with three glasses of water and a glowing smile, ecstatic that her daughter is giving her another chance.

Rachel was snuggled into Ruby and Santana, looking utterly exhausted. The small girl looked like she was about to fall asleep with her head on Santana's shoulder.

"Diva, don't fall asleep on me, Shelby's back with the water you wanted." Santana said, gently shaking the girl.

"Yeah, come on Tiny you don't want to fall asleep now do you? We're just getting to know Shelby." Ruby chimed in.

Rachel grumbled something incomprehensible before sitting up and rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. Shelby handed the girl one of the glasses with an adoring smile, almost unable to comprehend how cute Rachel was when she's tired.

Just as the small brunette took a sip of water she heard a baby cry upstairs Shelby quickly gave her an apologetic glance before running to settle the child.

Santana and Rachel locked gazes and the Latina said the only thing on her mind at that moment "Beth... Rach, we're going to see Quinn's baby for the first time today!" Her eyes were as wide as saucers, matching Rachel's.

When Shelby walked downstairs with a blonde baby on her hip Ruby abandoned her seat on Santana's lap to coo at the child.

"Aww she's so cute! Can I hold her?" She asked enthusiastically.

Shelby nodded and handed Beth to Ruby watching the woman light up while she was cooing at the baby.

Rachel and Santana were in shock at how much Beth looks like Quinn. She was a spitting image of her mother, her features and blonde hair coming from Quinn but her curls coming from Noah.

Beth's giggles snapped the two girls out of their shock.

Shelby was watching Rachel with what looked like barely concealed fear on her face, probably scared that seeing Beth was going to scare Rachel away.

When Rachel stood up and asked if she could hold the baby the biggest smile you could imagine appeared on Shelby's face before she grabbed her camera, ready to take pictures of her daughters' first meeting.

As soon as she was in the older girl's arms Beth looked at her sister with a smile identical to Quinn's, causing Rachel to almost melt with the sudden wave of affection she felt for the girl. Just as she was almost overcome with affection a light flashed and a click was heard; Shelby just captured the moment on camera.

"She's beautiful... So much like Quinn..." Rachel murmured, not able to get past how much this child looked like the girl she loves.

Shelby really looked the part of the proud mother at that moment, her smile big enough to look like it could split her face.

Rachel and Beth were staring at each other with grins on their faces while Shelby stood back watching. Santana and Ruby stepped back, the Latina pulling out her own camera to take a picture of the little family moment.

Rachel turned her grin to Santana when she was once again disrupted by a camera flash. For once in her life, the small brunette felt like she's not alone; she now has a family.

The group spent the next few hours like that, chatting and telling stories from their childhoods, Shelby also telling stories about things Beth has done.

The women realised that it was late when Santana's phone started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Santana where are you?"

"Mama, I'm just at Rachel's Mom's house, I'll be home soon."

"Okay Santi, but don't take too long, dinner is ready now. Does Ruby want to come over for dinner?" Maria asked her daughter.

"Two seconds, I'll just ask her," Santana turned Ruby, holding the phone to her chest, "She asked if you want to have dinner with the family..."

"Really? Of course, I would love to!" Ruby beamed.

"She said she'd love to, we'll be there soon."

"Okay Santi, I love you."

"I love you to Mama, bye."

As much as people would think that Santana doesn't like her parents it was the total opposite, she loved her parents and her siblings more than anything and she was a real Mama's girl.

"Okay Diva, as I'm sure you just heard we've gotta go. Love you, and I'll talk to you later." Santana hugged the smaller girl briefly and kissed her cheek.

"Bye Tiny, love you, remember what I said earlier..." Ruby mimicked Santana's actions, hugging the girl and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for having us Shelby, take care of Rachel won't you?"

"Not a problem girls, it was a pleasure having you. Of course I will take care of her Ruby; you have no need to worry."

The girls nodded and looked to Rachel for her response, "Go, I don't want to be the reason you two are on the end of one of Maria Lopez's lectures. Love you!"

This encouraged the two women to head off, back to Santana's house. Rachel watched the two of them drive away with a wave.

Rachel's bags were still in the foyer so Shelby decided to show the girl to her room. The room Shelby chose for the girl had three light purple walls and one violet feature wall, knowing that purple was the girl's favourite colour.

The small diva instantly fell in love with the room as soon as she laid eyes on the room. She turned her wide, wonder-filled eyes to her mother and said "I love it so much, it's amazing! How did you know purple is my favourite colour?"

"It's my favourite colour and I had a feeling that you would like it too." Shelby replied with a smile, causing the smaller woman to throw her arms around her and hug her for a few moments.

Rachel immediately opened one of her bags and pulled out some of her stuff to put on the dresser. She put her laptop on the desk in the corner of the room and then spent the next half hour putting her clothes away in the built-in wardrobe and the drawers.

By the time Rachel had finished unpacking her stuff Shelby had dinner ready for all three of them. Knowing that the younger brunette was vegan she had cooked mushroom and broad bean risotto and had bought vegan ice-cream for dessert.

Rachel took a bite of her risotto and moaned asking, "Where did you learn to cook this good?"

Shelby chuckled and replied "Over the years I've picked up a thing or two." giving Beth a spoonful of the risotto.

[\]

After Beth had fallen asleep Shelby asked Rachel to pick a movie they could watch together, going to get the two of them some tea.

When the woman returned she saw that the girl had chosen her favourite movie; Funny Girl.

With a smile she told her daughter that it's her favourite movie and that she wasn't surprised Rachel chose it.

The two women were getting along so well that they didn't even realise that it was 2am until Rachel checked her phone for messages.

"Oh my Barbra! It's two o'clock in the morning! We need to get to bed!" The younger brunette exclaimed.

"Gosh, it's that late? Okay, we need to get some sleep, Beth is up at six every morning and I can tell that normally you are too."

After quickly clearing away their tea mugs, the two women walked upstairs together in silence. Shelby followed Rachel in to bed, and tucked her in. Rachel didn't have to get changed because she had gotten into a pair of sleep shorts and a baggy t-shirt after Funny Girl finished.

"Sweet dreams sweetie, I'll see you in the morning." Shelby whispered, kissing the girl's hair.

"G'night Mom..." Rachel mumbled sleepily, falling asleep immediately after she'd said it causing her mother to smile proudly.

Shelby watched her sleep for a moment before quietly walking over to her room, stopping to check on Beth on the way.


	14. Preparing For The Date

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

Rachel awoke at 9:30 the next morning, immediately picking up her phone to check the time. She had exactly two hours until she had to meet Quinn at the mall.

The small brunette walked downstairs to find Shelby watching Beth play with her toys.

"Good morning sleepy head." Shelby said as Rachel sat down next to her.

"Morning..." Rachel dropped her head on her mother's shoulder, causing Shelby to smile and gently run her fingertips through chestnut brown hair.

"Have you got anything planned for today?"

"Yeah, I have to meet Quinn at the mall. We're shopping for her new style; I think she'll get sick of it pretty soon though. She's just rebelling to get away from everything she's been through lately."

"What's her new style?" Shelby asked worriedly.

"Black punk sort of clothes and pink hair..."

"Oh. Well, what time do you need to meet her? You need to eat some breakfast and then I can drop you off at the mall."

"I said I'd meet her at 11:30 this morning, so I still have some time."

"Okay, well, I made you some fruit salad earlier if you'd like some breakfast?"

"That sounds wonderful, thank you."

Shelby pulled a bowl of fruit salad out of the fridge and sat with her while she ate, though watching Beth through the doorway.

"Your friend seemed to like kids, she was very enthusiastic..."

Rachel laughed "Do you mean Ruby?" When she got a nod in response she continued, "Yeah, she's very loving I think it's because she never really had many people around her, like me..."

Shelby felt a pang of guilt at Rachel's words but nodded nonetheless. "You seem very close with her..."

"Yeah, we're like sisters. Same goes for me and Santana."

"Speaking of Santana, is something going on between her and Ruby?"

Rachel chuckled before replying "Yeah, they're going on their first date tonight. They're perfect for each other."

"What about you and Quinn?"

"Nothing's going on between Quinn and I... yet..." Rachel whispered the last word; part of her hoping Shelby wouldn't hear her.

No such luck.

"But you want there to be something between you?"

With a nod Rachel responded, "We've been getting closer since the day before all the drama started. She's getting used to the idea of being in a relationship with a girl, and the fact that she's gay extremely quickly so I think we'll be there soon..."

This made Shelby smile, Rachel had lit up as soon as Quinn was mentioned and was glowing as she was thinking about being in a relationship with her.

Soon enough Rachel had finished breakfast and ran upstairs to get ready to spend her day with Quinn.

Forty five minutes later and Rachel was showered and ready. She decided on black skinny jeans that made her arse look great and a fitting black t-shirt that had a white Xena print on it with her black converse shoes. Her hair was pulled up in a loose pony tail and her make-up was done as usual; natural foundation and heavy eye-liner.

When she walked down the stairs Shelby's jaw dropped at how much older her daughter looked compared to the girl that she met the previous year.

"Wow. I don't think you're going to have an issue with getting Quinn to want to be in a relationship with you. You look amazing!"

Rachel blushed and thanked her mother before she sat down to watch t.v. with them.

Just under an hour later and Shelby was dropping Rachel off at the mall, the girl had called Quinn to see where she was to make sure her mother could leave.

Quinn was waiting near the food court so Rachel said goodbye to her mother and sister before heading inside, searching for the beautiful blonde.

Quinn spotted the small girl before Rachel saw her and quickly walked up behind her without being seen, covering the girl's eyes with her hands before whispering in her ear "Guess who..."

Rachel laughed as she turned around, leaning up to leave a kiss on the taller girl's cheek, causing a light blush to erupt over Quinn's features.

"Okay, I think we should go to the second hand store first, they should have stuff there that would fit in with what I'm looking for."

Rachel agreed and they spent the next hour looking through clothes at the second hand store, finding plenty of stuff Quinn liked.

After they finished there the girls decided to have a break and get a smoothie because there was a good shop that sold vegan smoothies, as well as normal ones. Rachel decided to get a vegan Berry Blast shake while Quinn got a mango smoothie.

While they were drinking their smoothies the girls discussed whether they thought Quinn had enough clothes now, eventually deciding that she did.

Next stop, buying hair dye.

Just over two hours later and the girls had gotten everything they needed. They decided to go back to Quinn's house to dye her hair; they would have the house to themselves because Judy was at her book club for the next couple of hours.

[\] With Santana

Santana woke up alone for the first time in just under a week. It took her a few seconds to remember that after dinner Ruby had gone home because they didn't want to ask Santana's parents if she could stay over.

After Santana was showered and dressed she went downstairs to eat breakfast (that is, drink some coffee) before she started getting everything she would need together for that night.

The only people in the house were her and her little sisters Carmen and Gabriela because she had to watch them until her mother got home in a few hours. It wasn't too bad because she could get them to help her find stuff she needed for the date.

After breakfast Santana wanted to find the picnic basket but she had no idea where it was because her sisters had been playing with it the week before.

"Carmen, where's the picnic basket?" She yelled up the stairs.

She heard the light footfalls of two small girls running before they appeared at the top of the stairs, quickly running down.

"I think it's in the laundry." Gabriela said.

"No, I think we left it in the cubby house." Carmen disagreed, starting an argument between the two of them.

"Girls! It doesn't matter. I'll just look in the laundry _and _the cubby house."

"Why do you need it anyway?" Carmen asked.

"My friend and I are having a picnic later." She replied, walking into the laundry and looking around. When she realised that the girls weren't going to leave her alone or help without her telling them to she said, "If you're going to stand there, at least help me find it!"

Gabriela immediately started looking around the laundry with her older sister while Carmen ran out the back to check the cubby house.

Two minutes later and Carmen ran back inside with the basket, looking smug.

"Thanks Bub!" The eldest Latina said, giving the two a quick hug before saying "Since you two are such good help will you help me get together the stuff I need for this afternoon?"

"Sure."

"Okay."

"Awesome, okay Gabby could you get me the picnic blanket from the linen closet?"

"Of course!" She replied enthusiastically, happy to help her older sister.

"What are we going to do?" Carmen asked.

"We're going to start cooking. Gabby can help us when she comes back down stairs."

"What are we cooking?"

"Well, we're starting with dessert; we're cooking Pear Crumble Cake."

Half an hour later the three Latina girls had assembled the cake and had just put it in the oven, the cake had to be cooked for forty five minutes and then cool for another fifteen minutes.

Since they had some time to kill before they had to start cooking again Santana decided she would let the girls do whatever they wanted.

Half an hour later Santana left the girls watching t.v. to start cooking pasta for the picnic. She found out that Ruby's favourite pasta dish was creamy mushroom penne so she decided she would cook a vegan version of that along with some salad.

After she had finished with the pasta and the salad Santana decided to make some chocolate tipped strawberries, using soy chocolate. She had made sure she had everything that she needed in the cupboards and the fridge a couple of days earlier.

Just after she finished with the strawberries the timer for the Pear Crumble went off, pulling that out of the oven she put it where the girls couldn't reach it and told them not to touch it.

Once that was done all she had to do was pack everything else she needed into her car.

Collecting some pillows and a couple of blankets Santana headed out the front and started packing the boot. On the second trip she took out a box of vanilla scented candles, her Zippo lighter and some mix cd's she made that had all the romantic music that she and Ruby liked on them.

By the time she was finished it was only 3pm so she had a few hours to get ready, just as she was about to walk back inside her Mama got home.

Santana breathed a sigh of relief; she didn't want to have to be babysitting while she was trying to get ready and look perfect for her first date with Ruby. And now she could get her mother's advice on outfits if she needed it.

It was hard for her to find the perfect outfit because she needed to be casual enough to be comfortable while they were walking through the parkland path to her meditation spot but dressy enough for Ruby to think she looked good.

She told Ruby that she would need to dress comfortably to walk for a bit without hurting herself and she could always tell her to change her shoes or anything if it looked unsuitable for walking through a forest-type area.

After greeting her mother Santana sprinted up the stairs to try and find the perfect outfit, all the while thinking _'I should have just bought an outfit when I was at the shops the other day'._


	15. The Date

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

After about twenty minutes of going through every outfit in her wardrobe and throwing them on her bed, Santana gave up and decided to ask her mother for help. Just as she turned around to call her she almost jumped out of skin, finally noticing her mother in the doorway watching her with an amused smirk on her face.

"Mama, I don't have anything to wear!"

"What sort of outfit do you need Santi?" Maria asked in a calming voice.

Santana explained what sort of outfit she needed and watched her mother set about going through her clothes, trying to find an outfit for her.

Eventually Maria pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans, black ballet flats and a low cut sparkly black and silver shirt.

"Mama, I love you! Thank you so much!" Santana said, almost jumping on the woman who was an older version of herself, hugging her tightly.

"So, is there anything you would like to tell me about you and Ruby?" Maria asked with a knowing smile on her face.

Santana paled a little before gulping and replying, "Mama, I'm a lesbian... Tonight is mine and Ruby's first date..."

Maria squealed with delight that her daughter had _finally _come out to her and found someone who is absolutely perfect for her. "I know Santi, I just wanted you to tell me yourself!" She said, pulling Santana into a fierce hug.

"You... knew?" The younger Latina asked, still in shock that her mother had taken the news so well.

"Of course I knew! Your Papa and I have been waiting for you to come out to us for the past five years!"

"You've known for that long and you didn't tell me you knew?"

"Santi, you had to come to terms with it yourself and come to us in your own time..."

Santana heaved a sigh before giving in, "I guess you're right... What's the time?"

"It's 5:30, why?"

"I only have an hour and a half to get ready and over to Ruby's apartment to pick her up!" The younger Latina said before she shooed her mother out of her room so she could get ready.

Quickly undressing and then redressing into the outfit her Mama had chosen for her Santana ran into her bathroom to do her hair and make-up.

Santana spent half an hour getting her make-up to look perfect and another twenty minutes lightly curling the bits of her hair that weren't sitting naturally curly and making sure it sat properly.

She only had half an hour to get all the food together and in the car and over to Ruby's house to pick her up on time.

Quickly rushing downstairs with her handbag on her shoulder Santana found her mother already packing the picnic basket, after she had put all the food in containers. Maria packed a two litre bottle of lemon ice tea and another two litre bottle of water for the women.

"Thank you Mama." Santana said as she kissed the older woman's cheek.

Santana grabbed the basket when her mother was finished and ran out the door, quickly putting it in the boot before driving across town to Ruby's apartment, making a quick detour to pick up the roses she's ordered.

Twenty minutes later and Santana was standing outside Ruby's apartment door, holding a bouquet of two dozen roses behind her.

Eight seconds after she rung the doorbell the door swung open revealing a _stunning _Ruby, causing Santana's jaw to drop.

Trying to cover up her speechlessness, Santana handed Ruby the roses and gave her a shy smile.

After a moment's pause the Latina said "You look absolutely beautiful..."

"Why thank you. You look gorgeous..." Ruby responded.

Ruby was wearing a black mini dress with ripped shoulders, black stockings and black boots that stopped a few inches above her ankles.

After Ruby had put the roses in a vase filled with water and placed them on the bench, they headed out to the car. About ten minutes out of town Santana made Ruby put a blindfold on so she wouldn't figure out where they were going.

Another twenty minutes later and they had arrived at the beginning of the trail, Santana told Ruby to stay in the car until she got back because she had to set up.

Santana laid down the picnic blanket a few metres away from the edge of the cliff, placing candles all around it and putting the basket in the middle. She would light the candles when she got back with Ruby because she didn't want to accidentally start a fire in the forest.

When Ruby was standing just at the end of the path, facing the picnic setting, Santana lit the candles before walking up behind the shorter woman and removing the blindfold.

Ruby gasped when she saw the picnic set out and the beautiful view over the cliff.

"It's beautiful! How did you find it?"

"My family and I used to go camping a lot and one day I was adventuring and found it, it's been my secret meditation point ever since... Rachel is the only person who I've told about it and you're the only person who I have ever brought here."

Hearing this, Ruby pulled Santana down to her and kissed her passionately for a few minutes before pulling away breathlessly.

"Thank you for bringing me here, it's beautiful..."

"I cooked us dinner, are you hungry yet?" Santana asked.

"Starving..."

The two young women sat down on the blanket and pulled a blanket over their laps, leaving a couple of blankets and their pillows at the side, before pulling out the food Santana had prepared.

Taking a bite of the pasta Ruby moaned, looking at Santana with wide eyes saying "This is delicious! I didn't know you could cook so well!"

"Thank you, well my Mama taught all of us kids how to cook, she's working with the twins at the moment. They actually helped me cook dessert."

The girls spent the next hour eating and chatting.

After they finished the pear crumble, Ruby made Santana promise her that she would thank Carmen and Gabriela for it.

The women were so full they couldn't even think about the strawberries until they had let the food go down, so they decided to lay down for a while, cuddling.

They spent the next half hour kissing and cuddling, wrapped up in blankets until they decided to eat the strawberries.

Santana picked up a strawberry and held to Ruby's lips, coaxing her to eat it. Santana's eyes were trained on the older girl's lips so Ruby made more of a show of parting her lips and gently biting into it.

Once she had finished chewing Ruby was about to lick the rest of the strawberry juice from her lips but Santana quickly captured them, running her tongue over Ruby's bottom lip quickly gaining access.

Santana gently pushed Ruby onto her back and lied on top of her, never breaking the kiss. After a few more minutes of making out, Ruby gently pushed on the Latina's shoulders breaking the kiss.

"San, we need to slow down..."

Santana agreed with a nod and pulled away but not before leaving a kiss on the woman's neck.

An hour later the girls were cuddling when Santana whispered "Ruby, will you officially be my girlfriend?"

Ruby answered with a massive grin on her face "Of course I will! I would be honoured to officially be your girlfriend Santana!"


	16. The Makeover

**AN: Sorry I haven't updated in so long guys, I've been busy with assignments and studying for all my exams. As always, hope you enjoy If the translations are wrong, blame google translate, not me because I don't speak Spanish XD**

**Translations: **

"_**Los niños**__**! **__**¡Silencio!" –**_**"Children! Quiet!"**

"_**Las niñas,**____**que los está**____**volviendo loco!" – **_**"Girls, you're freaking them out!"**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee :'(**

Earlier in the day with Rachel and Quinn (after they went back to Quinn's)

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Rachel asked while she was opening the packet of hair dye.

"Yes I'm sure, don't worry it's only a colour rinse, it'll come out in a couple of weeks."

"Okay..." Rachel gave in, still not sure about putting a colour through Quinn's beautiful blonde hair.

Quinn gave Rachel specific instructions to leave some pieces blonde while she was colouring it and half an hour later they were looking in the mirror at the now pink haired girl

"Quinn, say something... Do you like it?" Rachel prompted after the girl stood there in silence for five minutes, staring at her reflection.

"Yeah... it'll take some getting used to though." Quinn replied, finally snapping out of her trance.

"Definitely..."

[\]

Later that day, Quinn and Rachel had called Santana and Ruby to catch up. The Latina said they could meet up at her place, so half an hour later the girls were being bombarded by questions from Carmen and Gabriela.

"Why did you dye your hair?" Carmen asked.

"Why are you wearing all black?" Gabriela jumped in, asking.

They were only a couple that Rachel and Quinn caught before Santana and Maria stopped the girls from bouncing around the room and interrogating the girls.

"Los niños! ¡Silencio!" Maria called as she was walking into the room.

"Las niñas, que los está volviendo loco! You look insane!" Santana said at the same time, quickly coming downstairs with Ruby, laughing.

Everyone chuckled at the blonde and the diva's overwhelmed wide-eyed expressions, causing them to snap out of it.

"I can't believe you two still haven't gotten used to the little monsters yet!" Santana said, still laughing.

"We are used to them! We just weren't expecting to be interrogated by bouncing eight year olds the second we walked in the door!" Rachel exclaimed, Quinn nodding firmly in agreement.

After the girls were all settled upstairs about ten minutes later Ruby said to the pink haired girl, "He's probably going to jail, he's been charged and we're waiting to see how everything goes."

Quinn looked at her questioningly for a moment before it clicked that the older girl was talking about Finn.

"Good, he deserves to."

"He deserves to be dead, is what he deserves. After being tortured, that is." Santana muttered darkly. The girls just decided to ignore her dark mumblings and continue their conversation.

"We're lucky we got him now, if you hadn't done anything Quinn he probably would have gotten worse and worse over the years with each of his partners."

"I just wish that he wasn't like that, he had the potential to be really sweet..." The pale girl replied.

"He never had the potential to be sweet; he's always been a jerk no matter how hard anyone tried to change him!" Santana finally snapped, making all the girls go silent.

"San, I know you hate him for what he did but I think that he will realise that what he did was wrong and he will have a worse time in prison or Military School..." Quinn said soothingly while Ruby gently held her hand, her other arm wrapped around the younger woman.

The three girls watched as Santana crumbled, her anger quickly shifting to pain and anguish, tears sliding down her face as she spoke through harsh sobs, her voice rising to a yell by the end. "I couldn't protect you from him! He was hurting one of my best friends and I didn't even know! I didn't stop him! I didn't protect you! I _failed_!"

"San, you're wrong... you did everything you possibly could do to protect Quinn as soon as you found out what was going on! If it weren't for you, she probably wouldn't be here today because he would have killed her the moment she broke up with him! _You_ were the one who stopped him from hurting her. _You _are the one who picked us both off the floor and dragged us back up so we weren't living in hell anymore, we may have had different reasons and definitions of hell but life was horrible for us and _you _are the one who changed that! If it weren't for you, neither Quinn nor I would be here alive today so don't you dare say you failed when you saved both of us..." Rachel said firmly, looking Santana straight in the eyes the entire time.

Throughout the small brunette's speech Quinn was nodding to show her agreement, her arms wrapped around the diva's waist.

After this the girls went back to chatting and by the time they looked at the clock it was 6:30pm and Rachel was due home at Shelby's at 6:15pm.

"I have to get home, I just realised that I'm late home and Shelby isn't going to be very happy with me for not getting back on time, since it makes her worry that something bad has happened to me. I swear, she's more dramatic than me!" Rachel said, causing the other girls to laugh.

"I'm pretty sure that's impossible but at least we know where you get it from!" Santana teased.

Rachel and Quinn both gave Ruby and Santana a hug each before they headed off, saying goodnight to the Latina's family on the way out.

A few minutes later Quinn was dropping Rachel off at Shelby's, as soon as the door opened they were confronted by the sight of a very worried looking Shelby whose face quickly turned to anger when she realised that there was nothing seriously wrong with her daughter, causing her to be home late.

"What happened? Why are you late?"

"I'm sorry Shelby, we were with San and Ruby and we lost track of time; it was already 6:30pm when we looked at the clock so we left as soon as we could..." Quinn explained.

"Okay, I'm sorry girls I was just worried that something had happened. Rachel, next time you should set an alarm or something so this doesn't happen again."

Rachel said goodbye to Quinn, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and watched her drive away before heading inside.

Shelby already had dinner ready for her and was just re-heating it when the diva entered the kitchen.

"So how are Santana and Ruby?" The older brunette asked.

"They're doing really well; they are officially going out now! Santana asked her when they were on their first date." Rachel beamed.

The women continued to talk about everything that happened while the younger brunette was out and then went through to the lounge room to continue their conversation. Shelby was telling Rachel about stories from her childhood and then Rachel would share some of hers.

"I can't wait for your grandparents to meet you; they have never forgiven me for them not getting to meet you. They're going to love you!"

"I can't wait to meet them! We don't really get to see Dad and Daddy's parents very often so it will be fantastic to meet your family."

"_Our_ family, honey, they're your family too." Shelby corrected gently, causing Rachel to smile.

Beth had been put to bed a few hours before and when they looked at the clock they realised that it was 11:30pm and Rachel had school in the morning.

"Okay Rach, I think it's time for bed since you have school tomorrow!" Shelby said, sounding enthusiastic.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be tired for my first day back at school, especially considering how many questions I'm going to have to answer from everyone in Glee club..."

"Okay, goodnight sweetie, see you in the morning!" The older brunette said quietly as she tucked Rachel into bed.


	17. New Development

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, Fuckin' Perfect by Pink or What You Are by Jewel :'(**

It was the morning of Rachel's first day back at school since her relapse, the morning that Quinn returned to school since the fight with Finn in front of everyone. The morning after Santana got no sleep from worrying about how people were going to act towards the girls.

Santana picked up Rachel and Quinn and drove to school, the car filled with nervous energy because they didn't know what they were walking into.

Every single person in the hallway stopped to stare at the trio when they walked into McKinley High. Quinn still had dark rings under her eyes and Rachel winced a little as she walked, despite the pain killers she had taken.

Santana was walking slightly in front of the two girls, glaring at everyone who was staring at them. Rachel could see how tense and highly strung the Latina was, it was like she was waiting for Finn to jump out at them from around a corner, so she gently ran her hand down the girl's back once.

Quinn tenderly slipped her hand into Rachel's and interlocked their fingers, causing a few of the glee clubbers watching them to raise an eyebrow.

The rest of the day was spent pretty much the same; the girls glued at the hip and ignoring the stares and rude questionings from the people around them.

[/]

That afternoon in Glee club Rachel and Quinn were both extremely nervous, unbeknownst to the other, as they had each prepared a song.

"Okay guys, before we start today's lesson, does anyone have something prepared?" Mr Schue asked the group.

Quinn's eyes widened when she saw Rachel's hand fly up before she could raise her own.

The small brunette headed to the front of the room, handed the sheet music to the band and turned to face the group.

"Made a wrong turn once or twice  
>Dug my way out, blood and fire<br>Bad decisions, that's alright  
>Welcome to my silly life<p>

Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood  
>Miss knowing it's all good<br>It didn't slow me down.  
>Mistaken, always second guessing<br>Underestimated, look I'm still around

Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel  
>Like your less then fucking perfect<br>Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel  
>Like you're nothing, you're fucking perfect to me<p>

Your's so mean, when you talk  
>About yourself, you were wrong<br>Change the voices in your head  
>Make them like you instead<p>

So complicated, look how we are making  
>Filled with so much hatred<br>Such a tired game  
>It's enough I've done all I could think of<br>Chased down all my demons  
>I've seen you do the same<br>(ohh ohhhhhhh)

Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel  
>Like your less then fucking perfect<br>Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel  
>Like you're nothing, you're fucking perfect to me<p>

The whole world's scared, so I swallow the fear  
>The only think I should be drinking is an ice cold beer<br>So cool in line, and we try try try, but we try too hard  
>It's a waste of my time.<br>Done looking for the critics, cos there everywhere  
>They don't like my jeans, they don't get my hair<br>Strange ourselves and we do it all the time  
>Why do we do that, why do I do that<br>(why do I do that)

Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel  
>Like your less then fucking perfect<br>Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel  
>Like you're nothing, then you're fucking perfect to me<br>(your perfect your perfect)  
>Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel<br>Like you're nothing, you're fucking perfect to me"

The whole time Rachel was singing she didn't break eye contact with Quinn, telling her that the song was meant for her. When she was done she and the blonde shared a sweet smile before Quinn stood up and asked if she could sing what she had prepared.

Just as Rachel did, Quinn handed her sheet music to the band and got herself ready to sing.

"I'm driving around town  
>Kinda bored with the windows rolled down<br>See a girl on the bus stop bench  
>Dressed to draw attention<p>

Hoping everyone will stare  
>If she don't stand out she thinks she'll disappear<br>Wish I could hold her, tell her, show her  
>What she wants is already there<p>

A star is a star  
>It doesn't have to try to shine<br>Water will fall  
>A bird just knows how to fly<p>

You don't have to tell a flower how to bloom  
>Or light how to fill up a room<br>You already are what you are  
>And what you are is beautiful<p>

Heard a story the other day  
>Took place at the local VA<br>A father talking to his dying son  
>This was his conversation<p>

'It's not supposed to be like this  
>You can't go first I can't handle it'<br>The boy said 'Dad now don't you cry,  
>Remember when I was a child what you used to tell me when I'd ask why?'<p>

(You'd say) Gravity is gravity  
>It doesn't try to pull you down<br>Stone is stone  
>It can't help but hold its ground<p>

The wind just blows, though you can't see  
>It's everywhere like I'll always be<br>You already are what you are  
>And what you are is strong enough<p>

Look in the mirror  
>Now that's another story to tell<br>I give love to others  
>But I give myself hell<p>

I'd have to tell myself  
>'In every scene there's a perfect plan'<br>Everything I hoped to be  
>I already am<p>

A flower is a flower  
>It doesn't have to try to bloom<br>And light is light  
>Just knows how to fill a room<p>

And dark is dark  
>So the stars have a place to shine<br>The tide goes out  
>So it can come back another time<p>

Goodbye makes a love so sweet  
>And love is love so it can teach us<br>We already are what we are  
>And what we are is beautiful<p>

And strong enough  
>And good enough<br>And bright enough"

Quinn kept Rachel's eye contact throughout the song, the same as the diva did to her when she sang. Once she had finished Rachel flew out of her seat, wrapping her arms tightly around the blonde and crushed their lips together.

When the girls pulled apart they were panting but both had the biggest grin on their faces that anyone had ever seen.

"Rachel Barbra Berry, would you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?" The blonde asked, her arms still wrapped around the smaller girl.

"I would be honoured to be your girlfriend Lucy Quinn Fabray!" Rachel exclaimed, obviously trying not to jump up and down squealing.

The Glee club was sitting in shock over what just happened, and Santana thought it best to get the girls out of there before they recovered so she ushered the new couple outside to her car, driving to Quinn's house because her mom was working.

Rachel and Quinn were sitting in the back seat kissing while Santana drove, shaking her head to herself, reminding herself to message Ruby of the new development.


	18. Home Alone

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, Olivia Wilde, Ruby Rose or Jack Off Jill :'(**

The next week flew by, Rachel and Quinn's relationship growing stronger by the day. Shelby and Rachel's mother/daughter relationship was also becoming the one that both women had longed for, for years.

It was the day before Rachel's dads were due to come home when she got a call from the men telling her that they were extending the trip another month.

No-one was with her when she got the call so no-one saw her tears; her heartbreak.

At that moment Rachel decided that she wouldn't burden anyone else with the knowledge because they would only feel sorry for her and pity her.

[\]

The next day Rachel was being driven home where there was a teary goodbye with Shelby (on Shelby's behalf).

"What time are your dads meant to get home?" Shelby asked.

"Some time later tonight." Rachel replied.

"Okay, well, remember that you can come to my place at any time; I will always take you in." The small brunette's mother told her, while pulling Rachel into a fierce hug.

Shelby got back in her car and called out the window, "Don't forget I love you!"

Rachel called back "Love you too!"

The diva watched her mother drive away until she could no longer see her before she headed inside. The house was empty and emotionless as Rachel walked in the door.

It was strange to be in such a cold house since she got used to living in Shelby's warm, charismatic home.

The silence was unbearable to the small girl and her tears soon spilled over.

After ten minutes of crying Rachel grabbed a CD and put it on, turning out to be her Jack Off Jill: Clear Hearts Grey Flowers album.

She only tends to only listen to their music when she's feeling especially depressed because they express her feelings in some of their songs.

The moment the first second of the song "When I Am Queen" came on Rachel turned the sound on her stereo up, trying to turn it up loud enough to muffle her thoughts.

When the diva realised it wasn't working she quickly made her way to the downstairs bathroom, rummaging through the back of the cabinet until she found the packet of razor blades she hid when Santana threatened to throw them out to stop her from harming herself.

Rachel sat and stared at the razor blade she pulled out until "When I Am Queen" finished and changed over to "Fear of Dying".

She waited a couple of seconds but hearing the line, "I'm not afraid of speaking my mind, I'm just afraid of being ignored" threw her over the edge, bringing back memories of all the years she has been ignored; at home, and at school.

Picking up the razor blade, Rachel pulled up her sleeves, drew in a deep breath and started running it across her arms, making sure to not cut deep enough to require stitches.

Tears pricked her eyes at her first cut in over two weeks.

The small brunette sliced away at her arms, only stopping when the song ended. Rachel made sure to clean up her arms so they wouldn't get infected and was cleaning the blood off the bathroom tiles when the doorbell rang.

Hurriedly pulling her sleeves down and making sure nothing was visible from under the bathroom door, the small girl headed to the front door, not bothering to turn the music off on the way.

Rachel opened the door, not aware of how horrible she looks (bloodshot eyes from crying, pale from pain and blood loss) to find Quinn, Santana, Ruby and Olivia standing there.

Rachel's calm mask covered the moment of panic the moment of panic that flashed in her eyes, though Ruby and Olivia caught it; both having been trained to notice things like that in people.

"Hey, guys! What are you doing here?" The diva asked with a not-so-obviously fake smile plastered on her face.

"We just thought we'd keep you company while you wait for your dads to get home." Quinn replied with a grin, wrapping her arms around the smaller girl and leaning in for a kiss.

Rachel's smile became genuine as she kissed the blonde but she winced when she wrapped her arms around the taller girl.

Santana was watching the diva closely, noticing the wince and what music was playing (she knows that the girl only listens to this music when she's feeling especially depressed).

Once Rachel and Quinn pulled apart, each of the girls gave the small girl a hug to say hello before heading inside.

Rachel quickly turned the stereo down so it wasn't so loud that it felt like your eardrums were going to explode. Each of the girls noticed the song that was playing (Strawberry Gashes) and Rachel suddenly got extremely awkward.

Santana was suspicious of Rachel's behaviour and suddenly felt sick as she realised what the girl might have done, but she hoped she was wrong.

"Excuse me; I just need to use the bathroom." The Latina excused herself, watching for the smaller brunette's reaction.

"No! ...I mean, you have to use the upstairs bathroom; there's a _huge _spider in the downstairs one. It's okay though, I sprayed it already so I'm just waiting for it to die." Rachel lied.

"Rachel." Santana begun, making sure to get the girl's eye contact before continuing, "Stop lying to me."

"What? I'm not!" Said girl replied, obviously trying to control her panic.

"Yes you are. What have you done?" The Latina continued, never once looking away from the smaller girl.

"_Nothing, _I haven't done anything! I don't know what you're talking about."

"Rachel. What is in the downstairs bathroom? What are you hiding?" Santana asked, narrowing her eyes.

The girl in question finally made eye contact again and replied calmly and slowly to emphasize her point, "I am not hiding anything."

"So I won't find anything I won't like if I go into the bathroom right now?"

"Not unless you count the giant spider in there as something you won't like."

"I don't believe that there is a giant spider in there."

Rachel faltered for a second at those words and glanced towards the bathroom with a gulp.

Quinn, Ruby and Olivia were all sitting in shock on the couch, watching the scene unfold in front of them.

Santana strode off with purpose towards the bathroom door, Rachel standing in shock before running and launching at the door, blocking it from the Latina.

"Rachel, I am only trying to help you. I have been there through all of this, why are you pushing me away now?" Santana said softly, causing Rachel to step away from the door looking ashamed of herself.

The Latina opened the bathroom door and a tear fell as she spoke "Rachel... What happened?"  
>"I'm sorry..." Rachel replied.<p>

"I'm going to need to check them..."

"I know San..."

While Rachel and Santana were having their moment the other girls had come up behind them and saw what they were talking about.

In the bathroom there was a small pool of blood with the bloody razor sitting to the side of it with a first aid kid on the counter.

Quinn gasped and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, tears starting to drip down her face. After Quinn had let her go Olivia and Ruby pulled her into a hug together.

"Honey, I know that right now everything seems like nothing will ever get better but it will. You will have a happy life with a beautiful partner and you will live your dreams if you only try. All of us here have gone through depression at one stage or another and a few of us resorted to self harming. You will feel so much better when you are able to overcome all of this and be happy." Olivia murmured in the younger girl's ear.

"Yeah Tiny, just look at me; I was in your exact position at your age but look how happy I am now!" Ruby added, giving the girl an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

Olivia and Ruby pulled away and Santana wrapped one arm around the girl she considered her sister and said, "Okay Rach, I'm going to need to check them. Where are they?"

Rachel put her arms up in front of her and gently pushed the sleeves of her hoodie up over the bandaged wounds. The Latina carefully removed the bandages and inspected the damage before asking if they were the only recent cuts.

"I don't know..." The diva replied.

"Okay, well, that just means that I'm going to have to check you for others. Come on, take off your hoodie." Santana said, tugging at the bottom of the other girl's hoodie.

Rachel reluctantly took off her hoodie and t-shirt, leaving her in black skinny jeans and a black and purple lacy bra.

Ruby and Olivia were looking away to give the girl some privacy, while Quinn was stroking her girlfriend's hair to keep her calm as Santana took to searching the diva for cuts.

Once she was satisfied that the only fresh cuts were the few on the girl's arms Santana handed Rachel her shirt and hoodie back.

Once the smallest girl had gotten dressed and her arms were bandaged again the Latina pulled her into a tight hug and the older girls turned back around.

Ruby walked over to the stereo and turned the music off before walking back to Rachel and starting a group hug.

After a couple of minutes in the group hug the young women pulled apart and Olivia asked "What time are your dads due home from the airport?"

"Uhm, their flight gets in at 1am and they have to get their luggage and then drive home, so they should be here around 3am. So you will all have to go home before then..." Rachel replied.

"Okay, so we'll start cooking dinner and watch a movie before we head home." Quinn said with a small smile.

After dinner the girls found themselves watching Kick Ass (as per Santana's choice) cuddled up on Rachel's bed. All of the girls thought Mindy (Hit Girl) was the coolest kid ever, but no-one failed to notice how Rachel flinched every time Hit Girl killed someone, causing them all to snuggle further into her.

As the movie ended the young women noticed that Rachel was almost asleep, so they each gave her a kiss on the cheek, Quinn giving her a gentle kiss on the lips, and a hug before leaving.

[\]

A few hours later Rachel awoke alone in the large house and cried herself back to sleep again, wishing the girls had never left but not wanting them to know that her fathers were not coming home for another month.


	19. Vegan Blueberry Pancakes

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long guys; I've been dealing with some stuff and couldn't bring myself to write anything. Special thanks to Cassicio for messaging me earlier today, and giving me the push I needed to finish this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, Olivia Wilde, Ruby Rose or any of the music or movies mentioned :'(**

The next few days passed by relatively the same as the last; Rachel would go home, blast some music, and leave a couple of fresh cuts scattered in various places on her body before heading over to one of her friend's houses.

Whenever anyone asked why they hadn't seen her dads since they supposedly got back, Rachel would tell them that they were extremely busy at work and would be for the next few weeks because of their emergency conference.

Shelby would call Rachel every day to see how her day was and just to talk with her.

[\]

Rachel was woken up by someone knocking on the front door, deciding to ignore it the diva rolled over and covered her head with her pillow. When her phone started to ring she knew that she couldn't ignore it any longer; what if it was an emergency?

Groggily answering the phone she mumbled a soft "hello?"

"Hey Sweetie, it's me, Quinn. Could you open the door for me?"

The brunette stretched and yawned before heading down the stairs, wearing only a pair of boy shorts and a t-shirt.

When she opened the door the blonde on the other side grinned and pulled her in for a hug and a kiss, before she noticed a fresh band-aid on the smaller girl's leg.

"Rach... what happened to your leg?" Quinn asked, sounding extremely concerned.

"Oh, that's nothing, I accidentally cut it when I was shaving my legs; no big deal."

"Are you sure?"  
>"Of course I am."<p>

Quinn smiled and gave the diva kiss to tell her that she's proud the girl has stopped harming herself, causing Rachel to immediately feel guilty.

The two girls spent the day watching television and eating any junk food Rachel had in her cupboards, until the rest of their little group were due to come over.

Rachel knew that if Santana saw the cut on her leg, she wouldn't be easy to convince that it's nothing so she got changed into a pair of her yoga pants and a hoodie.

Five minutes later Ruby, Olivia and Santana had arrived and were helping Rachel cook dinner, which was the mushroom and broad bean risotto her mother had made her on the first night she slept there.

After dinner the young women spent an hour chatting, Ruby and Olivia telling the younger girls about some of the ridiculous and hilarious call outs they've had, the whole group laughing so hard their faces hurt.

Once they'd finished talking they decided to put a movie on (Santana convinced Rachel and Quinn to watch another movie because she wanted to 'gets my cuddle on with my girl').

Eventually Rachel convinced the rest of the girls to watch Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, because she's a diehard Potterhead (though it really didn't take long for her to convince them, because they want to make her happy.)

[\]

When the movie finished the girls found themselves all tangled together and extremely tired so Quinn and Santana each messaged their respective mothers to tell them what was going on and to ask if it was okay for them to sleep over. Once they got permission from the women, the girls headed upstairs to Rachel's room.

Each of the girls got changed into their pyjamas and crawled into bed and turned on the T.V. to watch some mindless program before they fell asleep.

Santana was the last to fall asleep and she took note of the fact that it was 4am and Rachel's fathers' weren't home yet. She sleepily decided that if the men weren't home in the morning she would say something.

[\]

Rachel woke up at 6am wrapped in Quinn's arms, with one of her arms outstretched and resting on Santana's shoulder. At that moment Rachel felt safer than she had in months; she could feel the love and warmth radiating off of all the girls, even as they slept.

Suddenly the diva realised that she would need an excuse for the girls, about why her fathers aren't home even though she said they would be. Rachel started to gently slide out of bed, trying not to disturb the other girls in the process, but just as she was about to stand up Quinn started to stir.

"Rach? Where are you going?" The blonde asked in a tired whisper.

"I'm just going to the bathroom, go back to sleep sweetie. I love you."

Quinn groaned as she rolled over, responding with a sighed "I love you more."

After watching her girlfriend for a minute as she fell back to sleep, Rachel quietly walked downstairs to forge a note from her fathers.

She wrote in scrawly writing, imitating her father's,

"_Rachel,_

_We got home safely early this morning. We've gone out shopping, we'll be back later._

_Love, Dad and Daddy xo"_

After she finished writing, Rachel grabbed a magnet and stuck the note on the front of the fridge. She hoped that this would be enough to convince the others that everything was okay.

The small brunette went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth before redressing all of her cuts and heading back to her bedroom to cuddle with her new little family, suddenly feeling tired again. None of the girls stirred when Rachel walked back into the bedroom and slipped back into the bed, all of them just shifting subconsciously so they were all tangled.

[\]

When Rachel woke up, for the second time, it was 10:30am and she was alone in the bed. She could hear the other girls laughing downstairs with music playing, so she rolled out of bed and walked downstairs to find the group cooking breakfast and dancing to "Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah)" by Joan Jett.

The music was so loud the girls didn't even hear Rachel walk down the stairs or her laughing at their silliness. Since no-one noticed her walk into the room, Rachel slinked up behind Quinn and wrapped her arms around her middle, causing the blonde jump and scream. When Santana, Ruby and Olivia heard Quinn scream they all jumped with fright and embarrassment.

Santana quickly paused the music and scowled at Rachel, who was laughing even harder at the deep blush on each of the women's faces.

"We're down here making breakfast for you, and you repay us by scaring the shit out of us and laughing at us?" The Latina asked, still scowling, but with a smile tugging at the corners of her lips at seeing Rachel so care-free.

The smaller brunette tried to control her laughter, and finally succeeded before releasing a small giggle that caused the girls to all small and start laughing and pulled the diva into a group hug.

"You should have seen yourselves! I think that had to be one of the _cutest _things I have _ever _seen! Seriously you guys, do you know how freaking cute you are?" Rachel told them, making them all blush again, which in turn made her have a giggle-fit again.

After a few minutes the tiny diva finally had her giggles under control, and watched the girls cooking, "So, what are you cooking?"

"We're making normal and vegan blueberry waffles; vegan for you, Liv and Ruby, and normal for San and I. Oh, and I'm having bacon!" Quinn replied, "So I should probably give you a kiss now, since I know you won't let me kiss you after I've eaten bacon, until I've brushed my teeth three times."

As soon as she said this, the blonde leaned in and gave her girlfriend the sweetest kiss she possibly could, only pulling away when they heard the other girls say "Awwww" in unison.

"Breakfast is ready!" Santana said, as she started placing plates on the table.

Everyone was sat around the table eating when Rachel took the first bite of the vegan waffles, moaning "Jesus, these are _amazing!_ Who cooked these?"

Smiling bashfully, Olivia responded, "I did..."

"Who taught you to cook? Seriously, I think I should keep you around here just so you can cook amazing vegan food!" Rachel said, only half joking.

Chuckling, the young woman replied, "Well, my Mom taught me to cook when I was young, but I taught myself to cook good vegan food when I was a teenager. Plus, vegan blueberry pancakes are kind of my specialty because they just happen to be Ruby's favourite food that I cook."

"Aw, well you'll have to teach me how to cook them the way you do, because these are honestly the most delicious thing I have ever tasted!"

"Aww thanks Sweetie! I will most definitely teach you to cook these."

After they all finished eating the girls were just chatting when suddenly Ruby turned to Rachel and said, "Oh! I almost forgot! Your Dads left you a note saying that they got home safely and that they went out shopping, so you'll see them later today."

"Oh, okay. So, what do you guys want to do now?"

They all decided to have a The L Word marathon in Rachel's room, starting from season one and getting as far through the series as they could.


	20. Xena and Demeter

**AN: Sorry it's been a while again guys, but at least it wasn't as long a wait as it was last time! The song is Breathe Me by Sia, you should check it out, I love it Hope you like the chapter, please review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, Ruby Rose, Olivia Wilde, or anything else that you recognise :'(**

The days were starting to bleed into each other, with Rachel running on Auto-Drive. Her days consisted of getting up and ready for school, going to school and acting all day, coming home from school (sometimes with Quinn and the girls), getting ready for beds and leaving new cuts on her body.

She knew that her friends and her girlfriend knew something was wrong, but they didn't want to push the small girl too much, in case she retreated further into herself. Santana had been on her back about seeing her fathers, but Rachel always had an excuse as to why no-one had seen them since they supposedly got home.

Just as the silence was becoming unbearable to the tiny diva, the shrill ring of the phone pierce it, causing her to jump. She let the phone go to the answering machine, so she knows who it and how to act when she answers.

The deep, false caring tone lets her know that it's her Daddy. "Hello Darling, it's Dad and Daddy. Are you there?"

"Hey Daddy! How are you two? How's your vacation?" Rachel answered with false cheer.

The call was filled with fake sincerity and the politeness you use when talking to a stranger, that is, until he dropped the bomb.

"Well, Rachel, the reason your Dad and I called is to tell you that your Dad got a job offer here, it's a huge promotion and we've decided that it would be best if he takes it."

Rachel was in shock. How could they take her away, when she had just gotten her girlfriend, and established such an amazing group of friends?

Apparently she had been quiet for too long because her Daddy's voice rang through the speaker again, shaking her out of her stupor, "Rachel? Are you still there? Did you hear what I just said?"

"Yes. I heard you perfectly. You're moving to Washington. I won't be joining you though." The tiny brunette's voice was quiet, cold and void of any emotion as she spoke.

"That's fine. We already assumed that you would feel this way, and we decided that you can stay in the house in Lima, and since this job is paying so well, we'll put money in your account every fortnight, and pay the bills for you."

Rachel's jaw dropped. They _planned_ to move without her? She knew that they hadn't really cared for her, but she had expected them to try and force her to move with them, even if it was just for appearances.

Quickly pulling herself together, she replied with false joy, "Okay. Great! I don't have to leave my friends now!"

"Yes, we thought you would be happy about the arrangement!" Leroy responded happily.

{\}

After they ended the call, Rachel just stood in the middle of the silent room, shocked and hurt by what she had just learned.

Just as she was about to go to the bathroom to start cutting, she changed her mind. Instead, she walked into her bedroom and changed into short work-out shorts, a tank top and sneakers.

The small girl sped down the stairs, slammed the front door behind herself, leaving it unlocked, and started running. She didn't care where she was going or that she had tears streaming down her face, blurring her vision. She just ran, and ran, and ran...

Rachel didn't stop running until it was dark, and her lungs couldn't take in air anymore. She stumbled to a halt, tripping on a fallen branch because her legs felt like jelly.

For a few minutes she lay sprawled in the grass, sweat dripping and dirt smeared across all of her exposed skin that had made contact with the ground.

The diva exhaustedly pulled herself into a standing position and took in her surroundings, realising that she is in a park at the complete opposite side of town to her house.

Tears were still sliding down her cheeks and dripping off her chin, but she didn't notice.

She was numb.

Rachel walked over to the children's tunnel, crawled inside, and curled up into the foetal position.

After about five minutes, she felt a small, rough tongue licking the tears off her cheeks. Opening her eyes, she saw two small cats, probably still kittens, staring at her with what looked like concern in their eyes.

From the looks of these kittens, they were starving strays. One was chestnut with white patches and the other was completely black. The chestnut and white kitten was the brave one who had licked her face, while the black one was sitting a bit further away, seemingly skittish and shy.

Sitting up out of the foetal position, Rachel reached out to pet the brave kitten. Immediately it started purring and climbed into her lap, making her chuckle.

"Brave little thing aren't you?" She murmured, causing the kitten to give her a kiss on the cheek.

After she checked the gender of the kittens (which was harder to do with the shy kitten, because it was hesitant to let her close), she found out that they were both girls, and started to think about names for them.

Looking the brave kitten in the eyes, she asked her "What do you think of the name Xena? You're brave and protective like her."

The kitten's eyes sparkled as she licked Rachel on the nose, agreeing that that was her name.

Turning to the other kitten, who had deemed her safe enough to sit by her side, she thought for a moment before asking her, "And you, little one, what do you think of the name Demeter? Demeter is a cat from the musical CATS, who is very much like you."

The kitten purred and nuzzled her face into Rachel's thigh, agreeing to her new name.

Rachel smiled at the kittens and finally realised how late it had gotten, luckily she had her phone on her and called Olivia to get her, since she would ask the least questions out of her little family.

It rang a few times before the older girl answered, "Hey Rach, what's wrong?"

"Um, nothing's wrong Liv, I just need a ride home..."

"Sure, where are you?"

Rachel gave her the address of the park, and waited for the questions she knew were bound to come.

"Why are you over there? You're not hurt are you? How did you get there in the first place?"

"Liv, I just went for a run and found myself here, I already told you I'm not hurt. Oh, and do you have a cardboard box you can bring? I found a couple of stray kittens who have bonded with me..."

"Okay, yeah actually, I was just about to throw out a cardboard box that would be the perfect size for them to come home in. Have you named them yet?"

"Yeah, they're two little girls, one is chestnut brown and white and her name is Xena, and the other one is black, and her name is Demeter. Their names suit them perfectly."

Olivia got ready and started the car before getting off the phone, and driving to pick Rachel up.

Twenty minutes later Olivia arrived at the park and saw Rachel climb out of the tunnel intended for small children, holding two small bundles to her chest, one in each hand. The older girl walked across the park, meeting the small girl in the middle, offering to take one of the kittens. Rachel declined, because Demeter was only comfortable being held because her sister was right next to her.

The two young women walked to the car and put Xena and Demeter into the cardboard box, which was lined with a towel, and already had the seatbelt strapped around it so it wouldn't move during the drive.

"So, why were you running?" Olivia asked, breaking the silence that had descended.

"I just needed to clear my head." There was a pause before she added, "I'm thinking of singing a song in Glee."

"Oh yeah, what song?"

Rachel chuckled before she replied, "I'm not telling you; it's going to be a surprise. Maybe you and Ruby will be able to sit in on our Glee meeting when I'm going to sing?"

"I would love to hear you sing! If your supervising teacher says it's okay, I'm sure Ruby and I will be able to make it."

[\]

Two days later Rachel had organised for Ruby and Olivia to sit in on their Glee meeting that afternoon while she sang.

When she walked in, everyone else was settled and waiting for her, no longer shocked that Rachel Barbra Berry was late for class. Immediately the diva gave the sheet music to the band and Brad, and stood at the microphone with her eyes closed.

"Help, I have done it again,  
>I have been here many times before,<br>Hurt myself again today,  
>And the worst part is<br>There's no-one else to blame

Be my friend  
>Hold me<br>Wrap me up  
>Unfold me<br>I am small  
>I'm needy<br>Warm me up  
>And breathe me<p>

Ouch,  
>I have lost myself again<br>Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found  
>Yeah, I think that I might break<br>I've lost myself and I feel unsafe

Be my friend  
>Hold me<br>Wrap me up  
>Unfold me<br>I am small  
>I'm needy<br>Warm me up  
>And breathe me<p>

Be my friend  
>Hold me<br>Wrap me up  
>Unfold me<br>I am small  
>I'm needy<br>Warm me up  
>And breathe me..." She finished with a single tear rolling down her cheek, and Quinn, Santana, Ruby and Olivia all pulled her into a group hug.<p>

The rest of the Glee club all had different expressions, some seemed worried for the small girl, some were annoyed; convinced she was just trying to get attention, and others were completely indifferent.


	21. Assumptions

**AN: I can't believe it's been three years since I've updated this story! I can't apologise enough for going AWOL on you guys. I had to deal with my own issues before I could continue, because I found it too triggering for a while. I've finished high school now and have recovered from my self-harm, so I'm back in action! I hope there are still some of you following, and please let me know what you think. xo**

Chapter 21

Rachel was frozen on the spot. She couldn't believe that she had revealed that she was self-harming again, not only to her friends, but also to the entire Glee club. Quinn, Santana, Ruby, and Olivia all had tears in their eyes and were still holding the tiny brunette when they heard an annoyed voice cut in, "What the hell do you think you're playing at, Berry?"

Mercedes stood, arms akimbo, obviously enraged by her assumption that the Jewish girl was feigning her emotions, "We all know you're just being like this for attention. Your Daddies are probably getting sick of all your drama, like the rest of us. If you don't stop acting out for attention soon we won't be able to let you stay in Glee."

Rachel, who had been silent until this point, spoke up when she felt the girls around her tense considerably. "Mercedes, if you all feel that I'm faking my depression for attention then I cannot be a part of this so called 'family'. You are supposed to help your family when they are in need, not kick them while they're down. I cannot be a part of this group if this is how I am going to be treated." Her voice was quiet and devoid of emotion, and the girls who knew her best saw another piece of her shatter and die in that moment; forced to watch while the girl's eyes became even more hollow, breaking their hearts.

Santana growled loudly as she stalked over towards the coloured girl, her voice low and vicious, as she spoke, "Wheezy, if I _ever_ hear you say something like that again you can't even imagine the pain that I will personally inflict upon you In fact, you're extremely lucky that I don't cut out your tongue and let you choke to death on it right this moment. The only reason I'm not going to is because I know that Rachel wouldn't approve of my methods and you're not worth going to jail over. However, Rachel _is _worth going to prison over, and I know she would eventually forgive me – remember that."

The Latina's rage scared the dark girl more than anything else she had ever experienced in her short, sheltered life, so she quickly backed away with Kurt right on her heel. The rest of the club watched on in rapt fascination and terror; there was no way in hell that they wanted to risk being murdered by Santana just for watching the argument unfold.

Ruby noticed Santana about to lose the last of her control, wrapping her arms around the girl before she could launch at the coloured diva. Dropping a discreet kiss behind the younger girl's ear she whispered, "Baby, please calm down – I'm just as angry as you, but it won't do any good if you kill her. I really don't want to have to visit you in prison, especially since it would be bad for my career…"

The tanned girl snorted with an amused smirk, her wrath momentarily dissipated, causing Ruby to smile softly and the Glee kids' jaws to drop.

Just as their antagonist was almost out the door, Santana cocked her head, eyes fierce once more, "Remember what I said, Mercedes, because if you hurt my best friend _ever _again, I know for a fact that our entire dysfunctional little family will be after you. In case you aren't sure, that includes myself, her girlfriend, my girlfriend, and Olivia here. And trust me, none of us have very good tempers, nor do we take the harm of one of us lightly."

The rounder girl released a squeak of sheer terror before fleeing the room with Kurt, leaving the choir room in palpable silence.

"By the way, Gleeks, that notice goes for all of you as well." San stated, hardened eyes making contact with each of the people in question, conveying her sincerity.

Liv steered the frozen Rachel and the still pink haired girl out of the room behind Ruby and Santana.

Once safely in the car the tiny diva burst out into hysterical laughter, gasping for air through chortles. After a minute of perturbed looks from the rest of the car, the girl choked out "did you see the look on _her face_?" before collapsing in fits of giggles once more, causing the car of girls to break out laughing at the recollection of the utter terror etched on Mercedes' face.

Abruptly her tears of laughter turned into tears of hurt and her chortles morphed into sobs as the pain from the malicious accusation earlier.

The amused looks on the young women's faces swiftly faded to shocked concern at her drastic change in attitude. Her knees collapsed from under her and she crumpled to the gravel, pieces embedding themselves in her skin as though there was nowhere else they belonged.

After breaking out of their stupor the group hastily took the sobbing girl home, where her tears slowly subsided. The kittens were obviously concerned for their mother, as they nuzzled against her as if to comfort.


End file.
